Last week’s sheep kill (week ending October 8) held steady on the week before, standing at just over 65,000 head.
Figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show that 65,177 sheep were processed last week, which is a very slight decrease of 55 head from the week prior.
Spring lamb supplies increased slightly on the previous week once again, as did hogget numbers.
Ewe and ram throughput fell by over 600 head last week to total 11,447 head.
The number of hoggets processed increased by 230 head to 944 head, and spring lamb supplies tallied 52,784 head.
Week-on-week sheep kill (week ending October 8):
- Hoggets: 944 head (+230 or +32.21%);
- Ewes and rams: 11,447 head (-614 or -5.09%);
- Spring lambs: 52,784 head (+329 or +0.62%);
- Total: 65,177 head (-55 or -0.08%).
Sheep kill to date
Taking a look at this year’s throughput figures to date, 2,219,376 sheep have been processed so far.
Of that figure, 900,755 have been hoggets, 1,031,081 were spring lambs, with the rest made up of ewes and rams (287,422) and a small portion of light lambs (118 head).
If we compare figures to date this year, against the same period in 2021, we can see that the total number of sheep slaughtered is up by 137,605 head; 203,314 more hoggets have been processed, while ewe and ram throughput is up on last year’s levels by over 15,000 head.
Spring lamb throughput remains behind on this time last year by nearly 81,000 head.
Year-on-year sheep kill changes (week ending October 8):
- Hoggets/lambs: 900,755 head (+203,314 or +29%);
- Ewes and rams: 287,422 head (+15,108 or +6%);
- Spring lambs: 1,031,081 head (-80,814 or -7%);
- Total: 2,219,376 head (+137,605 or +7%).