The cattle kill was up by 100,000 head for the first nine months of the year when compared with 2021.

The most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the kill increased by 7.7% to the end of September, with the total number of animals slaughtered reaching 1.42 million.

A similar increase was recorded in the sheep kill. The CSO figures show that the total number of sheep slaughtered up to the end of September was 2.36 million. This is 7.6% higher than the same period in 2021.

Pig slaughterings are more or less running on a par with 2021, although the kill in September was back 3.7% on last year.

Analysis

An analysis of the data for September 2022 compared with September 2021 shows that cattle slaughterings increased by 4.5%.

The number of sheep slaughtered rose by 3.9% in September 2022 compared with September 2021.

Beef output increased in line with the cattle kill. To the end of September this year, the total output was 464,000 tonnes, up 24,000t on the 2021 figure.

The output of sheepmeat for the first nine months of the year was 50,500t, compared with 46,000t in 2021.

The fact that 100,000 more cattle have been killed so far this year is good news for those involved in winter finishing.

Although the factories have managed to pull prices over the last six weeks, there is a view that prices have now bottomed out and that beef quotes are likely to increase from here to mid-December.