Cattle and sheep kills down in first four months of 2026

The cattle kill was down 14.8% between January and April 2026 when compared with the same period last year, according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures.

This equates to 547,000 head, a decrease of 95,000 compared with the same period last year.

A reduction was also recorded in the sheep kill, with a decline of 4.9% between January and April 2026, to an estimated 746,000 head – a reduction of 38,000 compared with last year.

The number of pigs slaughtered in the first four months of 2026 grew by 4.8% when compared with the same four-month period in 2025 to an estimated 1.2m head.

April

The number of cattle slaughtered in April 2026 fell by 23,000 head (14.5%) to 136,000 when compared with April 2025.

Sheep slaughterings in April 2026 were 174,000 head, a decrease of 32,000 (15.6%) when compared with the same month in 2025, while the number of pigs slaughtered in April 2026 rose by 10,000 head (3.5%) to 298,000 when compared with April 2025.