Sheep kill: Throughput falls over 9,500 head

Last week’s sheep kill resulted in over 47,000 sheep processed, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

For the week ending February 11, 47,788 sheep were processed, which is a decrease of over 9,500 head from the week before.

42,059 hoggets were processed, which is down over 8,600 head on the week prior, while a further 5,729 ewes and rams were slaughtered, which is back over 900 head on the previous week.

Week-on-week sheep kill (week ending February 11):

Hoggets/lambs: 42,059 head (-8,625 or -17.01%);
Ewes and rams: 5,729 head (-957 or -14.31%);
Total: 47,788 head (-9,589 or -16.71%).

Sheep kill to date

Taking a look at this year’s throughput figures to date, 314,346 sheep have been processed so far.

Of that figure, 275,563 have been hoggets/lambs, with the rest made up of ewes and rams (38,763) and a small number of light lambs (20 head).

If we compare figures to date this year, against the same period in 2022, we can see that the total number of sheep slaughtered is up by 9,000 head; over 6,400 more hoggets have been processed, while ewe and ram throughput is up on last year’s levels in excess of 2,500 head.

Year-on-year sheep kill changes (week ending February 11):