As many would expect, the 2019 national beef kill is well behind 2018 levels. Last year, we witnessed a nationwide protest that brought lairages, kill floors and boning halls to a stand still.
While the year began at a similar pace to the last few months of 2018, with relatively high kills week-on-week for the start of the year, it wasn’t until March when the factories’ pool of cattle started to take its seasonal dip.
Cattle supplies throughout the summer months hovered around the 30,000-35,000 head mark, before the protests took centre stage in late July.
From here on, the beef kill fluctuated and reached a low of approximately 10,000 head during one particular week in September.
After the ‘Beef Sector Agreement’ was born mid-September, processing resumed at a slow rate before reaching a steady supply of cattle in the months of October, November and December – averaging around 37,000-38,000 head – before reaching a 2019 high of 40,214 head in late November.
While not all of the data is available, up until the week ending December 23, some 1,724,843 head of cattle were slaughtered in Department of Agriculture approved beef export plants in 2019.
If we add a modest 12,000 head for the last week of the year, that brings an estimated total beef kill to 1,736,843 head – a fall of circa 61,000 head on 2018 levels.
- Young bull: 207,503 (+5,213 head or +2.5%);
- Bull: 34490 (+3,819 head or +12.4%);
- Steer: 623,837 (-40,828 head or -6%);
- Cow: 345,716 (-49,334 head or -12.4%);
- Heifer: 499,284 (+16,843 head or +3.4%);
- Total: 1,724,843 (-60,200 head or -3%).
Much of this decrease in throughput can be attributed to a fall in steer and cow slaughterings.
One of the reasons for the decline in the number of steers killed can be attributed to many farmers switching to bull-beef finishing operations in search of higher margins.
This is echoed by the increase in the number of bulls slaughtered in Irish plants throughout 2019.
The high number of cows slaughtered during 2018 was mainly due to the summer drought, which saw many farmers cull passengers on farm to reduce feed demand, so this explains the lower throughput in 2019.
All other categories recorded an increase with young bulls, aged bulls and heifers increasing by 5,213 head, 3,819 head and 16,843 head respectively.
The high heifer kill can be attributed to a reduction in the demand for replacement heifers in the national beef herd and the increase in the rearing and finishing of Aberdeen Angus and Hereford heifers originating from the national dairy herd.