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Decline in sheep kill figures, says DAFM

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has released the latest sheep kill figures which indicate that there has been a decrease in the number of hoggets slaughtered this week, with the number at 48,683 head. This is a decline of 6,404 head from the previous week. However, ewe and ram throughput saw an increase of 564 from the previous week, totalling 4,195 head.

Weekly throughput had been rising up to the week before Easter and although a strong kill was seen, it fell on the previous week to under 60,000 head. Looking at last week’s figures in detail, 58,300 sheep were processed, a decrease of 3,678 head from the week before. There has additionally been a significant increase in the number of spring lambs processed last week, with the number at 4,844 which was an increase of 2,148 head on the previous week.  

The week-on-week sheep kill figures for the week ending 16 April:  

  • Hoggets: 48,683 head (-6,404 or -11.64%) 
  • Ewes and rams: 4,759 head (+564 or +13.44%) 
  • Spring lambs: 2,696 head (+2,148 or +79.67%) 
  • Total: 58,300 head (-3,678 or -5.93%) 

The throughput figures for 2022 to date are 788,041 sheep processed. Of that figure, 702,902 have been hoggets, 9,904 were spring lambs, with the rest made up of ewes and rams (75,195) and a small portion of light lambs (40 head). The figures indicate an increase against the same period in 2021, with the total number of sheep slaughtered up by over 103,411 head.

A breakdown of this figure shows that there were 105,596 more hoggets processed and 2,907 less ewes and rams slaughtered. Spring lamb throughput is also up on this week last year by 772 head. 

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