LMC Report: Total Cattle Throughput Remains Steady

UK - Slaughter figures for May 2010, show that cattle throughput for the month was almost the same as in May 2009. However, while there has been no change in overall slaughter numbers, there have been some substantial changes in the throughput of the different categories.

10 June 2010

1 minute read

Europe

This May, the prime cattle kill was around 240 head higher than it was in May last year. With 28,000 prime cattle slaughtered last May, this represents a very small change (less than one per cent). However, what concerns some meat plants is that within this figure, the proportion of steers and heifers has fallen whereas the proportion of young bulls has increased substantially. The prime kill increased despite a fall of 560 in the number of steers and of 370 in the number of heifers compared to last May. The young bull kill, on the other hand, increased by 1,170 head, mainly as a result of increased availability of dairysired bulls. This means that young bulls now account for 20 per cent of the prime cattle kill compared to 16 per cent last year.

The combined cow and mature bull kill is slightly lower than last year, despite the bull kill being around 1,070 head higher this May, a reflection of the tendency among some producers to retain bulls until they are over 24 months of age (the official EU category for young bulls is under 24 months). The cow kill is 1,360 head lower than last year, driven by a reduction in the number of cows sourced from the dairy herd.