Latest beef kill figures have shown the past four consecutive weeks of this year have seen lower kill numbers than the same weeks of last year.
This trend had been forecast for this year but had failed to materialise in the opening five months of the year with supplies actually running ahead of last year.
Latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show just under 30,700 cattle were slaughtered in the final week of May, which is over 1,300 head of cattle below the same week of last year.
The graph below shows how weekly kill numbers have fallen below last years’ trend over the past four consecutive weeks:
As can be seen from the chart above, kill numbers in April this year ran well ahead of last April but supplies this May have dropped below last years’ supplies for May.
Earlier this year, the Bord Bia forecast on factory cattle supplies for 2024 indicated that the strong cow kill was expected to be maintained, but an overall decline of somewhere between 30-40,000 head of cattle was projected for this year.
The table below gives an overview of the beef kill in the week ending Sunday, June 2, compared to the same time period of last year:
Category Week ending
Sunday, June 2,
2024Equivalent
last yearCumulative
2024Cumulative
2023Young Bulls 2,917 3,450 53,315 56,858 Bulls 739 636 11,326 11,483 Steers 11,221 11,780 267,256 263,061 Cows 7,315 7,502 182,358 164,003 Heifers 8,500 8,651 220,200 210,430 Total 30,692 32,019 734,455 705,835
Looking at the cumulative figures for this year, the bull kill figures are below last year while supplies in all other categories are running above last year.
The cumulative kill this year remains over 28,500 head of cattle above last year and with overall supplies forecast to be below last year’s kill, it remains to be seen if and to what extent this shortfall will materialise.