The number of cattle slaughtered was up by almost 15% in April 2024 when compared with the same month last year, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Sheep slaughterings dropped by almost 18% in the same time period.

Overall, in the first four months of the year when compared with the same period in 2023, cattle slaughtering increased by 4.6%, while the head of sheep slaughtered decreased by 5.6%.

It is estimated that almost 638,000 head of cattle and just over 954,000 head of sheep were slaughtered from January to April 2024.

In the month of April 2024 alone, cattle slaughter was up by 20,000 head, while sheep slaughter was down by 45,000 head.

Pigs

The number of pigs slaughtered in the year to April 2024 increased by 0.8% when compared with the same four months in 2023.

Pig slaughter is estimated to be approximately 1.1m head in this period, up nearly 9,000 head.

The number of pigs slaughtered in April 2024 rose by almost 23,000 head to approximately 273,000 head when compared with April 2023.