Domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers saw a 2.4% increase for February 2018 compared to the same month last year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In data released today (Thursday, March 29), it was estimated that total intake amounted to 279.4 million litres for February 2018.

It was found that the total milk sold for human consumption increased by 6.0% to 43.3 million litres between February 2018 and the same period in 2017.

Source: Central Statistics Office

However, butter production fell by 1.4% to 8,420t during the same time-frame. A further breakdown of the data can be found on the CSO website.

Rise in numbers of sheep and pigs slaughtered

Meanwhile, yesterday it was announced that both the numbers of sheep and pigs slaughtered in February 2018 are up by 7.1% when compared to the same period in 2017.

However, over the same period, cattle slaughterings decreased by 1.2%.

The CSO has also just released a comparison of figures for January-February 2018 with the corresponding period of 2017, noting increases across the board for all three cateogries.

The figures show that:
  • Cattle slaughterings increased by 2.5%;
  • Sheep slaughterings increased by 7.9%;
  • Pig slaughterings increased by 7.2%.

In numeric terms, according to the CSO statistics, the month gone by saw 148,900 cattle, 221,600 sheep and 277,600 pigs slaughtered. This is compared to 150,600 cattle, 207,00 sheep and 259,200 pigs in February 2017.