Factory cattle supplies "have come under significant pressure in the last few weeks."

According to Bord Bia, this trend is "stemming from a notable reduction in slaughter-age (factory-fit) cattle currently on farms."

Responding to a query from Agriland, on current factory supplies and forecasted supplies in the coming weeks, the Irish food board highlighted the "strong first half of the year in terms of cattle throughput in Irish meat plants combined with a buoyant live trade for cattle" as key contributors to this contraction in availability.

Bord Bia has said the current tight supplies "are expected to continue" and that this may impact cattle supplies "for both processing domestically and live export" from now until the end of the year at least.

According to Bord Bia: "There has been no changes to the current forecasted decline in cattle kill for 2025 with total throughput expected to be back in the region of 70-90,000 head, subject to no major interruptions in the trade."

In the week ending Sunday, July 27, cattle supplies remained below 25,000 head for the third consecutive week with a total of 24,500 cattle slaughtered, according to Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) figures.

Last week's kill was up marginally on the previous week but is still over 8,000 head below the same week of last year.

Including veal figures, the cumulative 2025 beef kill is now 34,500 head below last year at approximately 971,500 head.

The first six months of 2025 saw stronger than forecast supplies of prime cattle slaughtered at DAFM-approved factories.

Despite the recent downturn in cattle availability, the prime cattle kill-to-date this year is approximately 3% above the same time period of 2024.

A firming in milk price and high levels of cow culling in the past few years has impacted the available cow numbers for slaughter in 2025 with throughput back by 13% to date this year.