The number of cattle slaughtered last month fell by 2.2% compared to corresponding figures for the same month a year earlier, according to latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The CSO today (Thursday, August 24) published the Livestock Slaughterings July 2023 report which shows that the number of cattle, pig, and sheep slaughterings all fell last month compared with July 2022.
Mairead Griffin, statistician in the CSO agriculture accounts and production section, said: “Cattle slaughterings decreased by 2.2% to almost 145,000 head in July 2023 when compared with July 2022.
“The number of sheep slaughtered contracted by 11.9% to more than 248,000 head in July 2023 compared with July 2022, while pig slaughterings decreased by 9.8% to almost 262,000 head.”
The latest CSO report shows that the number of cattle slaughtered in July 2023 decreased by 3,216 head, while sheep slaughterings were down 33,561 head and the number of pigs slaughtered last month declined by 28,471 head.
The figures are based on slaughterings at both meat establishments approved by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and slaughterhouses and meat plants approved by Local Authorities.
In its latest report released today the CSO also analysed the total number of livestock slaughterings between January and July 2023.
It found that in the first seven months of the year cattle slaughterings fell by 2.6% when compared with the same period in 2022.
Cattle slaughterings in the year to July 2023 were to be estimated to be nearly 1.1 million head, which represents a decrease of 28,248 head compared to the same period a year earlier.
The number of pigs slaughtered in the first seven months of the year were also were down by 10.4% compared to corresponding figure.
Pig slaughterings were estimated to total more than 1.9 million head between January and July 2023 – which is down 224,563 head on 2022 figures.
However, sheep slaughterings between January to July 2023 were up by 2% on the same period in 2022.
According to the CSO, sheep slaughterings were up by 34,886 head to almost 1.8 million head when compared with the same seven months in 2022.