The number of cattle slaughtered in January rose by over 7% compared to the same month in 2021, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
In its Livestock Slaughterings report, the CSO said that 144,800 cattle were processed during the first month of this year.
This is up from the 134,600 cattle that were slaughtered during January 2021, representing a 7.6% annual increase.
However, it is a considerable decrease on the January 2020 figure of 165,400.
The statistics come as factory agents have told Agriland that beef prices are set to remain strong until the longest day of the year (June 20), which may come as some relief to farmers against a backdrop of rising costs.
Factories have increased prices four times over the past two weeks.
CSO data
In January, meat factories processed 229,000 sheep, this was up by over 5% compared to the same month last year when 217,900 were killed.
However, similar to cattle, the figure is a significant drop on the 253,400 sheep slaughtered in January 2020.
Meanwhile, 296,100 pigs were processed in January. Although, this figure is again back on the January 2020 total of 309,400, it is an almost 2% increase on the January 2021 tally of 291,000.