There has been a decrease in the number of sheep kills for the week ending February 19. According to figures released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), 55,244 sheep were processed marginally lower than the week before with a total of 374 head.
The figures additionally reveal that the number of lambs/hoggets slaughtered last week came to 49,730 which represented a decrease of 84 head from the previous week.
Ewe and ram also fell with a total of 5,512 head slaughtered last week, 291 head less than the previous week. The details according to the figures are as follows:
Week-on-week sheep kill (week ending February 19):
- Hoggets/lambs: 49,730 head (-84 or -0.16%);
- Ewes and rams: 5,512 head (-291 or -5.01%);
- Total: 55,244 head (-374 or -0.67%).
With the figures representing a significant increase for the same period last year the figure of sheep kills stands at 360,590 for 2022 so far. A breakdown of the figure reveals that 318,845 have been hoggets/lambs, with the rest being made up of ewes and rams totaling 41,723 and small portion of light lambs with a total of 22 head.
Compared to the same period last year the total number of sheep slaughtered is up by 33,400 head which equates to 31,782 more hoggets/lambs being processed while there has been an increase of 1,649 for rams and ewes.
LSL News.