The number of cattle killed at NI abattoirs over the next six months looks likely to be down on what was seen last winter and into early spring, the latest forecasts from the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) show.
In projections that are mainly based on the number of cattle alive on the NI Food Animal Information System (NIFAIS) at the end of September 2025, the LMC expects 136,336 cattle to be slaughtered in the final quarter of the year.
That would be 4.8% down on the 143,206 head in the final quarter of 2024 and leave the 2025 total kill at 502,276, down 2.8% overall.
Moving into 2026, the data also suggest numbers will remain reasonably tight for the first half of the year, with a total kill over the period of 244,470, which would be nearly 5% below the same period in 2025 and 2.2% behind what was seen in 2024.
Beef sired
In September 2025, the number of dairy sired cattle was relatively stable, however, beef sired numbers were back 3.5% on 2024.
That drop is mainly driven by an 11.3% reduction in beef sired females aged over 30 months, which suggests that suckler cow numbers in NI are continuing to come under pressure.
Also under pressure are the number of dairy-bred males, thanks to the widespread switch to sexed semen in dairy. There were only 14,321 dairy males aged from 18 to 29 months on farms in September 2025, down 40% on the same period in 2024.
By contrast, there are more dairy females on farms, with the number aged over 30 months up 6% at 313,565. That increase helps to make up for some of the reductions seen elsewhere.
Influence
The increasing dairy influence over the NI cattle kill is having a negative impact on carcase weights.
Compared to the average seen across all of 2021, steer weights are down 4.2kg in 2025 at an average of 358.6kg. Average heifer weights at slaughter are down 9.1kg at 318.3kg and young bulls down 5.4kg to average 342.6kg. The average weight of cull cows at slaughter in 2021 was 310.7kg and it has dropped to an average of 298.9kg so far in 2025.
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