The 2018 cattle kill in Northern Ireland (NI) totalled 451,339 head, making it the highest annual kill since 2011 when 451,716 animals were processed at NI plants.
Last year’s kill is ahead of the 2017 figure by 5,223 head, and 21,500 more than the total from 2016.
The total number of prime cattle slaughtered in 2018 was 336,991, compared with 332,717 in 2017 and 317,989 in 2016.
The annual cow kill in 2018 changed little from the previous year and stood at 103,533 cows, an increase of only 92 animals on 2017. However, it is still the highest cow kill on record (data going back to pre-BSE in 1996).
Steers down
While the prime cattle kill increased in 2018, there was a noticeable drop in the number of steers slaughtered. A total of 160,732 steers were processed last year compared with 170,482 head in 2017. Last year’s kill saw the lowest number of steers processed since 2014.
With steer numbers down, there was a marked increase in the number of young bulls, with 44,845 head slaughtered, up over 8,500 on 2017.
The heifer kill also increased significantly from 126,135 in 2017 to 131,135 last year, making it the biggest heifer kill since 2010.
Carcase weights
Average carcase weights across prime cattle processed in 2018 was 336.4kg.
Steers averaged 352.7kg compared with 348kg in 2017, while heifers averaged 316.5kg, up 2.5kg on 2017.
Young bulls averaged 336.7kg compared with 330kg in 2017, with cull cows at 299.9kg compared with 297kg in 2017.
Sheep
Total sheep numbers processed at NI plants in 2018 came to 417,611, which was down significantly from the 451,350 head processed during the previous year. The 2018 sheep kill was the lowest since 2011.
With sterling weak against the euro, and good demand from Irish factories, more than half of all NI sheep slaughtered in 2018 were processed in the Republic of Ireland.
Over 430,000 NI sheep headed south for slaughter, an increase of 7% on 2017 export totals.