A total of 163,443 cattle were slaughtered in Ireland within one week of being sold at a mart in 2022, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
In January 2023, 12,582 cattle were slaughtered at an approved site in Ireland within a week of being purchased at a mart.
The figures include cattle slaughtered at both DAFM-approved factories and local authority-approved abattoirs, but do not include the cattle that were slaughtered outside the Republic of Ireland (i.e. in Northern Ireland).
The figures were also broken down into six different categories. The breakdown is available in the table below.
The table below shows the numbers of beef and dairy-sired cattle that moved through a mart and were slaughtered within seven days of the mart movement in 2022:
Type Number slaughtered within a week of mart sale in 2022 Beef-breed cows: 43,481 Beef-breed heifers: 28,391 Beef-breed male cattle: 25,363 Dairy-breed cows: 46,671 Dairy-breed heifers: 4,127 Dairy-breed male cattle: 15,410 Total: 163,443
The DAFM statement outlined that the cow categories include all female animals that have calved at least once.
The male categories include all male animals as the department’s Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) database does not categorise bullocks, bulls, and stockbulls.
As the table above indicates, dairy-breed cows accounted for the highest volume of cattle bought at marts for direct slaughter in 2022 followed by beef-breed cows.
The table below shows the numbers of beef and dairy-sired cattle that moved through a mart and were slaughtered within seven days of the mart movement in January 2023:
Type Number slaughtered within a week of mart sale in January 2023 Beef-breed cows: 3,317 Beef-breed heifers: 1,601 Beef-sired male cattle: 1,124 Dairy-breed cows: 5,112 Dairy-breed heifers: 374 Dairy-breed male cattle: 1,054 Total: 12,582
In January of this year, dairy breed cows continued to dominate the mart purchases for direct slaughter.
Over 1.8 million cattle were sold at marts in the Republic of Ireland in 2022. This figure is over 91,000 cattle ahead of the number of cattle sold at marts in 2021.
Cows slaughtered
Over 411,000 cows were slaughtered at DAFM-approved factories in 2022; 272,500 of these were dairy cows and the remainder were sucker cows.
This figure is up from the 351,700 cows processed at DAFM sites in 2021; 225,000 of the cows slaughtered in 2021 were dairy cows and the remainder were suckler cows.