While spring lambs led the way in 2023 as the category of sheep with the highest number killed, it was still significantly behind the total of the previous year.

Looking at the final figures for 2023 released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), 2,873,230 sheep were processed in 2023.

Overall, in 2023 there were 1,553,947 spring lambs killed, which is 74,108 fewer than the cumulative total in 2022.

This means that spring lambs consisted of 54% of the total number of sheep killed in 2023.

The table below gives an overview of the sheep kill for the week ending Sunday, December 31, (week 52) and the cumulative kill to date this year, compared to the same time period in 2022.

Type2023
week 52
2023 cumulative2022 weekly2022 cumulativeWeekly
difference
Cumulative difference23 vs. 22 % weekly difference23 vs. 22 % cumulative difference
Lambs/hoggets46987,105113908,412-6778,693-59%9%
Spring lambs31,0161,553,94733,298 1,628,055-2,282-74,108-7%-5%
Ewes and rams2,364 332,0162,871385,428-507-53,412-18%-14%
Light lambs116201511117%
Total33,4272,873,23036,2822,922,046-2,855-48,816-8%-2%
Source: DAFM

Of the 2,873,230 sheep killed, 987,105 have been hoggets, 1,553,947 were spring lambs, with the rest made up of ewes and rams (332,016), and a small portion of light lambs (162 head).

This years supply of ewes and rams is also behind the number processed up to the same date in 2022, as there have been 53,412 fewer killed this year.

Source: DAFM

It was an unusual year in the sheep trade, as the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) National Sheep Committee chair, Adrian Gallagher said there was not “the same volume of spring lamb until” the beginning of summer.

This, Gallagher said, caused the factories to continue to kill hoggets and pay farmers for them “right up until the end of June” which is something he said he had not seen before.

The 987,105 hoggets/lambs killed in 2023 is 9% ahead of the number killed in 2022, or 78,693 head more.

“This has been materialising over the last couple of years where we’re getting a lot less early lambers, and factories are starting to pay for hoggets longer,” Gallagher added.