There have been numerous queries from sheep farmers in recent weeks regarding the dates of religious festivals in 2023.

The queries are stemming in places from finishers trying to plan the most appropriate time to have hoggets fit for sale to coincide with demand for the Islamic festival of Ramadan and the Christian Easter festival.

There is also some farmers lambing in February and early March assessing plans for finishing lambs in light of higher fertiliser and concentrate costs. Here, the main festival of concern is the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.

This has underpinned the highest level of weekly throughput over the last five years, with the exception of 2019 when beef factory protests significantly curtailed throughput around the Eid al-Adha festival.

Festival dates are detailed in Table 1. There will be big changes on the horizon in this regard, with Islamic festival dates moving forward each year in the calendar due to differences between the Islamic calendar and the Gregorian calendar.