United Kingdom Slaughter Statistics - February 2008

UK - This publication shows various statistics obtained from surveys of slaughterhouses run in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
calendar icon 22 February 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:

  1. UK monthly slaughter estimates.
  2. UK monthly average dressed carcase weights.
  3. UK monthly home-killed production of meat.
  4. UK average weekly slaughter estimates.
  5. UK slaughterings by country.
  6. UK quarterly production and supplies of meat.
This notice will next be published on 20 March 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’).

1. 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.

United Kingdom
November 2007
4 Weeks
December 2007
4 Weeks
January 2008
5 Weeks
Steers
90
74
91
Heifers
68
60
78
Young Bulls
24
22
25
Cows and Adult Bulls
44
39
53
Calves
6
4
3
Other Sheep and Lambs
1291
1289
1420
Ewes and Rams
180
204
219
Clean Pigs
798
718
884
Sows and Boars
31
21
28

Thousand head

2. 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.

United Kingdom
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
Steers
357.6
359.5
360.1
Heifers
310.2
311.8
313.0
Young Bulls
349.1
344.9
345.8
Cows and Adult Bulls
316.0
316.3
321.1
Calves
29.2
28.5
32.5
Other Sheep and Lambs
19.3
19.4
19.3
Ewes and Rams
24.6
25.2
25.3
Clean Pigs
78.5
77.0
77.1
Sows and Boars
148.7
153.1
155.0

Kilogramme

  1. Livestock slaughtered under the Older Cattle Disposal Scheme are excluded.
  2. A dataset showing slaughter statistics for the same months in previous years can be found on the Defra website at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/datasets/alldcw.xls.

3. 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.

United Kingdom
November 2007
4 Weeks
December 2007
4 Weeks
January 2008
5 Weeks
Beef
76
66
83
Mutton and Lamb
29
30
33
Pigmeat
67
59
73
Livestock slaughtered under the Older Cattle Disposal Scheme are excluded.

4. 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.

 

2007

2008

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

Thousand head



Further Reading

More information - You can view the full report by clicking here.

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