The number of sheep slaughtered in Northern Ireland up to early December is going against lower output trends across Ireland, Britain and many other EU countries.

Sheep throughput up to the week ending 11 December 2021 has been recorded at 438,677 head, an increase of 5,089 compared with the first 49 weeks in 2020.

Hogget and lamb throughput at 409,233 head is running marginally lower, with 2,056 fewer animals processed, while ewe and ram throughput of 29,444 head is running 7,145 head higher.

The number of sheep exported from Northern Ireland for direct slaughter in southern plants is in contrast to the sheep kill and, at 303,242 head, is running some 46,168 or 13.2% lower.

Figure 1 shows the pattern of exports across 2021 compared with 2020, with exports running significantly lower for the first six months of 2021 and similar to 2020 levels thereafter.

The number of sheep categorised as store and breeding sheep and exported from Northern Ireland to farms in the south is running broadly in line with 2020 levels at 47,228 head. This represents a reduction of 1,199 head compared with last year’s levels.

Exports to Britain

The lower exports to Ireland for direct slaughter has been partly compensated for by increased exports to Britain for direct slaughter.

At 29,409 head, the number of sheep exported to Britain for the year to date is running at over twice the figure of 12,119 for the corresponding period in 2020.

Sheep exported for direct slaughter are not categorised as hoggets, lambs or ewes, but reports indicate that a large percentage of these are ewes, with keen demand in Britain across the year.

Figure 2 shows the trend in exports and, as can be readily seen, there is no real pattern of exports due to exporters taking longer to put consignments together at different times of the year and moving numbers depending on prices on offer.

There is only six sheep in the difference between the number of sheep exported to farm in Ireland and Britain in the year to date. The number of sheep exported to farms in Britain is running at 47,222 head, similar to the level in 2020.

Combined output

When all of these figures are combined, sheep output from Northern Ireland farms to date in 2021 is running in the region of 25,000 head lower, which is still lower than the trends in other countries.