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The annual cattle kill in NI is set to pass 500,000 head for the first time.
While DAERA has yet to finalise the numbers slaughtered during the final two weeks of this year, the kill stood at 491,132 head over the 50-week period ending 17 December 2022.
This figure has already smashed the previous record kill set in 2010 when local factories processed 473,900 head.
Compared to the same period in 2021, the kill is up 9.4%. Should this differential be maintained over the final two weeks of December, it will leave the total number slaughtered at close to 507,000 head. That equates to 40,000 additional cattle in 2022 when compared to the previous year.
Prime kill
Throughput of all categories of stock are up in 2022, with the prime kill rising 8% and expected to finish the year at around 375,000 head.
That would be close to 28,000 head more than in 2021, but it falls short of the 379,265 processed in 2010 and the record high point of 394,146 prime animals slaughtered in 2007.
However, in those years, the cow kill did not pass 80,000 head. That compares to 2022 where we have seen unprecedented levels of cull cows processed, with the 80,000 head threshold passed before the end of September.
Over the first 50 weeks of 2022, the cow kill has totalled 115,164, up 14% on 2021 levels. It is expected to finish the year at just under 120,000 head, a record for NI.
Supply outlook
It remains too early to assess the long-term implications of that, although it seems certain there has been further contraction in the suckler herd. High costs have also forced dairy farmers to cull hard in 2022.
However, in the short term, there is a growing sense of urgency among cattle agents and processors about the availability of finished cattle in the first half of 2023.
On the one hand, cattle that might have been slaughtered in January and February 2023 are already through the system, while some of those which might have been ready in early spring, are being held back due to high feed costs, and will be grazed again.
Base prices
Processors have already found it more difficult to source numbers during December, resulting in base quotes rising 8p/kg to a top of 436p/kg and actual prices paid for U3 animals increasing 10p/kg to 454p/kg.
Reports from the local marts also suggest fewer short-keep cattle have been offered for sale in recent weeks, and this has helped to lift prices by 10p to 20p/kg.
With finished cattle numbers looking tight, it should help underpin the beef trade in the coming weeks.
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