Speculation about a surge of cattle exports to Northern Ireland for slaughter last week is not backed up by official figures. The latest Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs statistics show 281 bovines crossed the border for direct slaughter last week. That was an increase of just 41 head on the previous week.

The corresponding week in 2018 recorded 390 bovines exported north for direct slaughter. This was the second week of a five-week spike in 2018, with exports in that period averaging 363 head per week.

Exports to NI for direct slaughter have been far steadier in 2019 and at 8,381 head are running well ahead of the 3,004 head exported up to this point in 2018.

However, it is still only a fraction of the numbers that moved north before labelling changes that saw Irish cattle moving north classified as “nomad cattle”.

Meanwhile, the number of sheep moved from NI to the Republic for direct slaughter last week fell by 2,689 to 7,715. This stems from Kepak Athleague and Dawn Meats being prevented from processing for a third consecutive week and a growing backlog of lambs.