The national pig kill was down 10.5% for first half of the year when compared with the same period in 2022, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has found.

Comparing January to June 2023 with the same six months last year, the CSO found that almost 1.7m fewer pigs were slaughtered.

The pig kill last month was down just over 9% on June 2022, decreasing by 27,417 head to 274,246 head.

Slaughter peak

March saw the highest pig kill this year so far, according to the CSO, with 298,200 pigs slaughtered during the month.

The national pig kill fell in April to 250,600 head or the equivalent of 22,800t of pigmeat.

In May, there was some 26,200t of pigmeat, which totalled 288,300 pigs killed during this month.