United Kingdom Slaughter Statistics - March 2007
UK - This publication by Defra shows various statistics obtained from surveys of slaughterhouses run in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
26 March 2007
3 minute read
This publication shows various statistics obtained from surveys of slaughterhouses run in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 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.
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.
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 | December 2006 4 weeks |
January 2006 5 weeks |
February 2007 4 weeks |
| Steers | 79 | 99 | 84 |
| Heifers | 64 | 84 | 70 |
| Young Bulls | 18 | 23 | 19 |
| Cows and Adult Bulls | 35 | 52 | 45 |
| Calves | 3 | 3 | 2 |
|
Thousand head
|
|||
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/slaughm.xls (Excel format).
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 | December 2006 4 weeks |
January 2006 5 weeks |
February 2007 4 weeks |
| Steers | 345.4 | 349.7 | 351.8 |
| Heifers | 305.2 | 309.2 | 309.0 |
| Young Bulls | 332.0 | 330.3 | 332.8 |
| Cows and Adult Bulls | 304.8 | 301.3 | 317.7 |
| Calves | 24.2 | 25.9 | 27.9 |
|
Kilogramme
|
|||
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 | December 2006 4 weeks |
January 2006 5 weeks |
February 2007 4 weeks |
| Beef | 63 | 84 | 72 |
| Mutton and Lamb | 26 | 28 | 23 |
| Pigmeat | 54 | 66 | 58 |
|
Thousand tonnes
|
|||
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.
| 2006 | 2007 | ||||||||||||
| (Thousand Head) | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb |
| Heifers | 18 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Steers | 20 | 21 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 20 | 21 |
| Young Bulls | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Cows and Adult Bulls | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| Calves | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|
Thousand head
|
|||||||||||||
Further Information
To read the full report, please click here (PDF Format)
TheCattleSite News Desk
