The number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered between the months of January and July were up this year on 2021’s figures, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

A total of 83,000 more cattle have been slaughtered over these six months this year in comparison with 2021, representing a rise of 8.3%.

Although the number of sheep killed in the month of July dropped by slightly more than 8%, the cumulative sheep kill for the first six months of the year ran 8.6% ahead of 2021.

However, even with this increase in numbers, the sheep kill did not reach the 1,776,000 sheep slaughtered over this period in 2020.

The number of pigs slaughtered between January and July was up by 0.8% 2022, but, as with cattle and sheep, slaughterings were back in number for the month of July itself.