The latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for the week ending 16 May 2020 show the number of sheep imported from Northern Ireland for direct slaughter running at 124,389 head. This is on par with the corresponding period in 2019, during which 124,951 head were imported.

The number of sheep imported to farms is running at 24,095 to the end of April. This is almost 5,000 head lower than the figure of 29,037 for the first four months in 2019. The number of sheep exported from Northern Ireland to Britain for direct slaughter is running at 1,536 head compared to 282 head in 2019. The number of sheep exported live to farms in Britain at 25,565 head is running at double the levels for the first four months of 2019.

Slaughter performance

As is the case in Ireland, the number of sheep slaughtered in Northern Ireland is running significantly ahead of 2019 levels. The kill up to the week ending 16 May was recorded at 118,664 lambs and hoggets and represents an increase of 15,813 head on 2019 levels. The ewe and ram kill of 8,715 head is almost 2,000 head above the figure for 2019.