20 November 2008

1 minute read

Europe

Overall slaughter rates for everything was up in October in comparison to September, but it must be taken into account that this was a five week month, rather than four. Steers slaughters jumped from 86 thousand to 104 thousand and heifers from 58 thousand to 71 thousand between the months.

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced which enables average dressed carcase weights to be calculated. They revealed that the carcase weight of steers, heifers, young bulls and calves all fell slightly in October in comparison to September. However, cow and adult bull weights were up from 308.9 kilogrammes to 309.8 kilogrammes.

Information on meat produced is also collected. 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 in the survey. According to Defra total beef killed was 86 thousand tonnes, up from 70 thousand tonnes in September..

The average monthly slaughterings 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 graph shows the average weekly slaughterings for each of the last three years.

Further Reading

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