The first four months of the year have seen a general trend of strong weekly beef kill numbers with supplies generally running above the corresponding weeks of the previous year.

Strong factory prices have likely attributed to this, with more farmers pushing cattle on to finish at an earlier date and the rise in kill numbers coming predominantly from heifers and steers.

A projection from Bord Bia in January 2025 forecast 87,000 fewer cattle to be available for slaughter this year.

Despite this, the 2025 beef kill to date is over 25,500 head of cattle above last year.

With the strong beef kill and the higher than expected cattle export numbers to date this year, all signals would point to a further than expected reduction in cattle supplies for the final eight months of the year.

Beef kill figures in the week ending Sunday, May 4, saw supplies at a similar level to the same week of the previous year.

The graph below shows how weekly beef kill numbers this year have been comparing to last year:

Click here for more information on beef kill numbers and factory cattle prices.

Cattle supplies generally decline gradually throughout spring and into early summer before increasing again into late summer and early autumn.

As the graph above illustrates, beef kills in late April reached par with the same weeks of last year after a number of weeks of 2025 supplies being significantly ahead of the corresponding weeks of 2024.

The table below details cattle supplies in the week ending Sunday, May 4, compared to the same week of last year, and the cumulative kill to date this year compared to last year:

The cow kill this year is down by over 8,700 head, with the heifer kill up 24,000 head and the steer kill up 12,000 head.