UK Slaughter Statistics - July 2011

UK - Both pig and cattle slaughterings were up this month according to the latest national statistics produced by Defra on UK slaughterings of cattle, sheep and pigs.
calendar icon 26 July 2011
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Key points

  • Cattle: UK prime cattle slaughterings were one per cent higher than in June 2010 at 163 thousand head. Beef and veal production was 72 thousand tonnes, six per cent higher than in June 2010.
  • Pigs: UK clean pig slaughterings were nine per cent higher than in June 2010 at 744 thousand head. Pigmeat production was 60 thousand tonnes, a rise of nine per cent on June 2010.

This table shows monthly estimates of the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat for human consumption in the United Kingdom. The survey is run according to statistical, rather than calendar months, the number of weeks in the statistical month is specified below.

Table 1. UK monthly slaughter estimates
(thousand head)
United Kingdom April 2011
5 weeks
May 2011
4 weeks
June 2011
4 weeks
Steers 100 79 74
Heifers 76 62 58
Young bulls 28 29 32
Cows and adult bulls 48 46 49
Calves 8 6 5
Clean pigs 891 719 744
Sows and boars * * *
* Data are confidential

Section 2. UK average dressed carcase weights

This table shows the monthly average dressed carcase weight of livestock slaughtered for meat for human consumption in the United Kingdom. Longer term trends can be found on the Defra website.

Table 2. UK average dressed carcass weights
(kilogrammes)
United Kingdom April 2011 May 2011 June 2011
Steers 367.3 368.0 365.9
Heifers 320.9 319.6 317.8
Young bulls 340.1 344.6 350.2
Cows and adult bulls 321.6 321.0 321.4
Calves 42.5 42.4 51.3
Clean pigs 77.5 77.6 77.5
Sows and boars 151.1 154.4 148.4

Section 3. UK monthly home-killed production of meat

This table shows the monthly volumes of meat produced in the United Kingdom. Data is shown according to statistical, rather than calendar months, number of weeks in statistical month as specified.

Table 3. UK monthly home-killed production of meat
(thousand tonnes)
United Kingdom April 2011
5 weeks
May 2011
4 weeks
June 2011
4 weeks
Beef 86 74 72
Pig meat 73 59 60

Section 4. UK average weekly slaughterings

This following table shows the average weekly slaughter figures for the last thirteen months. The monthly slaughter figures in section one are affected by the number of weeks in the statistical month. To get a clearer measure of trends weekly averages are calculated by dividing the number of livestock slaughtered each month by the number of weeks in the statistical month.

Longer term trends can be seen in the charts following this table.

Table 4. UK average weekly slaughterings
(thousand head)
United Kingdom 2010 2011
Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Steers 18 18 18 21 22 21 18 20 20 21 20 20 18
Heifers 14 13 13 14 15 17 15 17 17 16 15 15 14
Young bulls 8 8 8 7 6 6 5 6 6 6 6 7 8
Cows and adult bulls 9 10 10 11 13 16 11 14 12 11 10 12 12
Calves 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1
Clean pigs 171 171 181 184 190 197 179 181 192 191 178 180 186
Sows and boars 4 * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Data are confidential



United Kingdom average weekly slaughtering – Cattle


United Kingdom average weekly slaughtering - Pigs

Section 5. UK slaughterings by country

This table shows monthly estimates of the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in England and Wales, Scotland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Data are shown in statistical months, rather than calendar months. The totals for the countries may not add up to the Great Britain totals or the United Kingdom totals in section one, due to rounding.

Section 5. UK slaughterings by country
(thousand head)
  April 2011
5 weeks
May 2011
4 weeks
June 2011
4 weeks
England & Wales
Steers 62 49 46
Heifers 46 38 36
Young bulls 19 19 21
Cows and adult bulls 37 35 36
Calves 7 5 5
Clean pigs 688 552 571
Sows and boars * * *
Scotland
Steers 23 19 17
Heifers 18 14 13
Young bulls 4 4 5
Cows and adult bulls 5 5 5
Calves 0 0 0
Clean pigs 60 45 45
Sows and boars 0 0 0
Great Britain
Steers 85 68 63
Heifers 64 52 49
Young bulls 23 23 26
Cows and adult bulls 41 40 41
Calves 7 5 5
Clean pigs 748 597 617
Sows and boars * * *
Northern Ireland
Steers 15 11 10
Heifers 12 10 8
Young bulls 5 6 6
Cows and adult bulls 7 7 8
Calves 0 0 0
Clean pigs 143 122 127
Sows and boars 0 0 0
*Data are confidential

Further Reading

- You can view the full report by clicking here.

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