Spring lambs have made up one third of last week’s throughput, the most recent sheep kill figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have shown.
13,533 head out of the 40,730 sheep slaughtered during week 20 (ending Sunday, May 19) were spring lambs, a total of 33% of the weekly throughput and 49,282 in total so far this year.
However, this supply is running significantly behind the number of spring lambs that were killed up to this point last year, when there were 65,151 spring lambs slaughtered.
This a 24% reduction, and with the overall sheep kill this year currently running 10% behind the same period in 2023, numbers of sheep are certainly low.
The table below gives an overview of the sheep kill for week 20 (ending Sunday, May 19) and the cumulative kill to date this year, compared to the same time period in 2023.
Type 2024
week 202024 cumulative 2023 weekly 2023 cumulative Weekly
differenceCumulative difference 24 vs. 23 % weekly difference 24 vs. 23 % cumulative difference Lambs/hoggets 23,015 818,302 24,151 901,506 -1,136 -83,204 -5% -9% Spring lambs 13,533 49,282 19,454 65,151 -5,921 -15,869 –30% –24% Ewes and rams 4,176 93,108 4,642 105,234 -466 -12,126 -10% -12% Light lambs 6 71 4 103 2 -32 50% -31% Total 40,730 960,763 48,251 1,071,994 -7,521 -111,231 -16% -10%
Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) president Sean McNamara told Agriland that the supply of lambs is currently “tight”, and added that many factories are killing for just “three to four days” each week.
Taking a look at this year’s throughput figures to date, 960,763 sheep have been processed so far.
Of that figure, 818,302 have been lambs/hoggets, 49,282 were spring lambs, with the rest made up of ewes and rams (93,108), and a small portion of light lambs (71).