The supply of spring lambs for slaughter this year is now running close to 64,000 head behind the same period of last year, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
There have been 272,720 spring lambs slaughtered in 2024 to-date, which is 63,891 head lower than the cumulative total up to week 27 (ending Sunday, July 7) last year.
Earlier this week, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSFA) sheep chair, Willie Shaw said that “throughput so far this year is down and is expected to remain down for the rest of the year”.
“Combined with lower production levels throughout the European Union (EU), this tells us that these week-on-week price cuts are completely unjustified and are nothing more than cynical power moves by the processors to bring prices down,” he added.
The table below gives an overview of the sheep kill for week 27 (ending Sunday, July 7) and the cumulative kill to date this year, compared to the same time period in 2023.
Type 2024
week 272024 cumulative 2023 weekly 2023 cumulative Weekly
differenceCumulative difference 24 vs. 23 % weekly difference 24 vs. 23 % cumulative difference Lambs/hoggets 1,641 890,682 2,937 973,428 -1,296 -82,746 -44% -9% Spring lambs 42,351 272,720 41,685 336,611 666 -63,891 2% –19% Ewes and rams 4,392 123,544 6,805 145,417 -2,413 -21,873 -35% -15% Light lambs 2 96 0 122 2 -26 -21% Total 48,386 1,287,042 51,427 1,455,578 -3,041 -168,536 -6% -12%
1,641 hoggets/lambs were processed, which is back over 800 head on the week prior, while a further 4,392 ewes and rams were slaughtered, which was back over 300 head on the previous week.
If we compare figures to date this year, against the same period in 2023, we can see that the total number of sheep slaughtered is down by nearly 169,000 head; over 82,746 fewer hoggets have been processed, while ewe and ram throughput is down on last year’s levels in excess of 21,000 head.
Taking a look at this year’s throughput figures to date, 1,287,042 sheep have been processed so far in 2024.
Of that figure, 890,682 have been lambs/hoggets, 272,720 were spring lambs, with the rest made up of ewes and rams (123,544), and a small portion of light lambs (96).