United Kingdom Slaughter Statistics - January 2008

UK - This publication shows various statistics obtained from surveys of slaughterhouses run in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
calendar icon 24 January 2008
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They are based on data from all slaughterhouses but remain provisional until all the returns are in. The statistics are shown in statistical months - that is, statistics for January, April, July, and October are for periods of five weeks while statistics for other months are for periods of four weeks, with the exception of 2004 which is a 53 week statistical year where December 2004 statistics are for a 5 week month.

Unless otherwise stated, all information is for the United Kingdom.

In this issue:

  • UK monthly slaughter estimates.
  • UK monthly average dressed carcase weights.
  • UK monthly home-killed production of meat.
  • UK average weekly slaughter estimates.
  • UK slaughterings by country.
  • UK quarterly production and supplies of meat.

This notice will next be published on 22 February 2008.

Other Defra statistics can be found on the Defra website at http://www.defra.gov.uk (from the home page, click on ‘Economic and Statistics’).

UK monthly slaughter estimates

Monthly estimates of the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below. They are shown in statistical months.

Thousand head
United Kingdom October 2007
5 Weeks
November 2007
4 Weeks
December 2007
4 Weeks
Steers 114 90 75
Heifers 77 67 61
Young Bulls 28 24 22
Cows and Adult Bulls 41 42 38
Calves 11 7 4
Other Sheep and Lambs 1431 1293 1270
Ewes and Rams 221 180 201
Clean Pigs 960 796 715
Sows and Boars 12 31 21


UK average dressed carcase weights

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced which enables average dressed carcase weights to be calculated. Monthly average dressed carcase weight for livestock slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below.

Kilogramme
United Kingdom October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
Steers 359.1 358.0 359.7
Heifers 311.3 310.9 311.3
Young Bulls 342.8 349.6 346.1
Cows and Adult Bulls 314.0 316.5 316.3
Calves 29.9 29.1 28.4
Other Sheep and Lambs 19.5 19.3 19.2
Ewes and Rams 25.6 24.6 25.2
Clean Pigs 77.8 78.5 77.2
Sows and Boars 141.5 148.7 153.1


UK monthly home-killed production of meat

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced. This enables the total quantity of meat produced in the United Kingdom to be calculated. Home-killed production includes livestock imported into the United Kingdom for slaughter and differs from home-fed production (see Table 6) which excludes livestock imported into the United Kingdom for slaughter. The figures are shown in statistical months.

Thousand tonnes
United Kingdom October 2007
5 Weeks
November 2007
4 Weeks
December 2007
4 Weeks
Beef 88 75 66
Mutton and Lamb 34 29 29
Pigmeat 76 67 58

UK average weekly slaughterings

The monthly figures shown in Table 1 are affected by the number of weeks in the month. In order to provide a better, and more immediately accessible to readers, measure of trends over time, the following tables show average weekly slaughterings for each of the last twelve months. Longer time series are shown in the charts.

Thousand head
. 2006 2007
Cattle Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Steers 20 20 21 21 21 20 20 19 18 21 23 22 19
Heifers 16 17 18 17 15 15 15 13 13 14 15 17 15
Young Bulls 5 5 5 5 5 6 8 8 6 6 6 6 6
Cows and Adult Bulls 9 10 10 9 7 7 8 9 5 7 8 11 10
Cows and Adult Bulls 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 1


Further Reading

       - To read the full report, please clicking here.(PDF Format)

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