UK Slaughter Statistics - October 2008

UK - Recent figures collected on the Defra Slaughter Statistics survey have revealed that the number of steers and heifers sent for slaughter in September rose substantially on August numbers.

17 October 2008

2 minute read

Europe

Overall slaughter rates for steers, heifers and cows and and adult bulls were all up in September - each recording a large increase. Steers leapt from 67,000 head to 86,000. Young bull slaughters remained the same at 21,000 head and so did calves at approximately 4,000 head.

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 fell slightly in comparison with the last couple of months. This month they totalled 352.9 kilogrammes. Heifers weights also fell, as did young bulls, cows and adult bulls. Calf weights rose from 28.9 kilogrammes to 31.3.

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 70,000 tonnes in September, a considerable rise from the 59,000 tonnes recorded in August.

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.