UK Slaughter Statistics September 2008

UK - Recent figures collected on the Defra Slaughter Statistics survey have revealed that the number of steers and heifers sent for slaughter in August took another fall in comparison to the previous couple of months.

18 September 2008

2 minute read

Europe

Overall slaughter rates for steers, heifers and young bulls fell in August compared to July. Despite July had five weeks in the month compared to August's four, the figures had also decreased since June, which was also a four week month.

However, the total slaughter of calves were up from four thousand in July to five thousand in August.

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced which enables average dressed carcase weights to be calculated. They revealed that the carcase weight of steers fell slightly in comparison with the last couple of months. This month they totalled 354.0 Kilogrammes. Heifers weights also fell, but young bulls rose from 350.0 kilogrammes to 351.5 kilogrammes.

Information on meat produced is also collected. This enables the total quantity of meat produced in the United Kingdom to be calculated. Home-killed production includes livestock imported into the United Kingdom for slaughter in the survey. According to Defra total beef killed was 58,000 tonnes in August, another decrease from 77 tonnes in July and 64 tonnes in June.

The average monthly slaughterings are affected by the number of weeks in the month. In order to provide a better, and more immediately accessible to readers, measure of trends over time, the following graph shows the average weekly slaughterings for each of the last three years.