UK Slaughter Statistics

UK - The latest statistics produced by Defra from surveys of slaughterhouses run by the UK Agricultural Departments were released on 16 July 2009 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
calendar icon 20 July 2009
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Monthly statistics on the slaughter of cattle, sheep and pigs, dressed carcase weights and meat production are published for the UK to June 2009.

In this issue:

  1. UK monthly slaughter.
  2. UK monthly average dressed carcase weights.
  3. UK monthly home-killed production of meat.
  4. UK average weekly slaughter estimates.
  5. UK slaughterings by country.

This notice will be updated at 09:30 on 20 August 2009.

UK monthly slaughter estimates

Monthly estimates of the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below. They are shown in statistical months.

Thousand head
United Kingdom April 2009 May 2009 June 2009
  5 weeks 4 weeks 4 weeks
Steers 96 77 76
Heifers 80 62 60
Young Bulls 23 23 26
Cows and Adult Bulls 41 35 37
Calves 3 2 3
Other Sheep and Lambs 1058 764 852
Ewes and Rams 201 152 158
Clean Pigs 834 674 706
Sows and Boars 20 15 15

UK average dressed carcase weights

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced which enables average dressed carcase weights to be calculated. Monthly average dressed carcase weight for livestock slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below.

Kilogramme
United Kingdom April 2009 May 2009 June 2009
Steers 360.7 363.9 365.5
Heifers 311.9 312.1 315.7
Young Bulls 348.0 355.3 356.4
Cows and Adult Bulls 315.0 315.4 314.6
Calves 33.1 36.6 35.8
Other Sheep and Lambs 19.4 19.3 18.8
Ewes and Rams 25.5 26.2 25.4
Clean Pigs 77.2 77.7 77.4
Sows and Boars 144.2 149.1 151.5

UK monthly home-killed production of meat

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced. 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. The figures are shown in statistical months.

Thousand tonnes
United Kingdom April 2009 May 2009 June 2009
  5 weeks 4 weeks 4 weeks
Beef 81 66 68
Mutton and Lamb 26 19 20
Pigmeat 67 55 57

UK average weekly slaughterings

The monthly figures shown in Table 1 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 tables show average weekly slaughterings for each of the last twelve months. Longer time series are shown in the charts.

Monthly statistics on the slaughter of cattle, sheep and pigs, dressed carcase weights and meat production are published for the UK to June 2009.

In this issue:

  1. UK monthly slaughter.
  2. UK monthly average dressed carcase weights.
  3. UK monthly home-killed production of meat.
  4. UK average weekly slaughter estimates.
  5. UK slaughterings by country.

This notice will be updated at 09:30 on 20 August 2009.

UK monthly slaughter estimates

Monthly estimates of the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below. They are shown in statistical months.

Thousand head
United Kingdom April 2009 May 2009 June 2009
  5 weeks 4 weeks 4 weeks
Steers 96 77 76
Heifers 80 62 60
Young Bulls 23 23 26
Cows and Adult Bulls 41 35 37
Calves 3 2 3
Other Sheep and Lambs 1058 764 852
Ewes and Rams 201 152 158
Clean Pigs 834 674 706
Sows and Boars 20 15 15

UK average dressed carcase weights

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced which enables average dressed carcase weights to be calculated. Monthly average dressed carcase weight for livestock slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below.

Kilogramme
United Kingdom April 2009 May 2009 June 2009
Steers 360.7 363.9 365.5
Heifers 311.9 312.1 315.7
Young Bulls 348.0 355.3 356.4
Cows and Adult Bulls 315.0 315.4 314.6
Calves 33.1 36.6 35.8
Other Sheep and Lambs 19.4 19.3 18.8
Ewes and Rams 25.5 26.2 25.4
Clean Pigs 77.2 77.7 77.4
Sows and Boars 144.2 149.1 151.5

UK monthly home-killed production of meat

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced. 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. The figures are shown in statistical months.

Thousand tonnes
United Kingdom April 2009 May 2009 June 2009
  5 weeks 4 weeks 4 weeks
Beef 81 66 68
Mutton and Lamb 26 19 20
Pigmeat 67 55 57

UK average weekly slaughterings

The monthly figures shown in Table 1 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 tables show average weekly slaughterings for each of the last twelve months. Longer time series are shown in the charts.

Thousand head
  2008             2009          
Cattle Jun
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Steers 18 18 17 22 21 20 18 17 19 19 19 19 19
Heifers 14 12 12 15 15 15 15 16 17 17 16 15 15
Young Bulls 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 5 6 7
Cows and Adult Bulls 9 10 10 12 13 15 11 10 10 9 8 9 9
Calves 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Further Reading

- You can view the full report by clicking here.

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