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This publication shows various statistics obtained from surveys of slaughterhouses run in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They are based on data from all slaughterhouses but remain provisional until all the returns are in. The statistics are shown in statistical months - that is, statistics for January, April, July, and October are for periods of five weeks while statistics for other months are for periods of four weeks. Unless otherwise stated, all information is for the United Kingdom.

In this issue:

1. UK monthly slaughter estimates.
2. UK monthly average dressed carcase weights.
3. UK monthly home-killed production of meat.
4. UK average weekly slaughter estimates.
5. UK slaughterings by country.
6. UK quarterly production and supplies of meat.

1. UK monthly slaughter estimates

Monthly estimates of the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below. They are shown in statistical months.

United Kingdom	January 2004 5 weeks	February 2004 4 weeks	March 2004 4 weeks
Clean Pigs	847	699	664
Sows and Boars	24	20	19
Thousand head

A dataset showing slaughter statistics for the same months in previous years can be found on the Defra website at
http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/datasets/slaughm.xls (Excel format).

2. UK average dressed carcase weights

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced which enables average dressed carcase weights to be calculated. Monthly average dressed carcase weight for livestock slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below.

United Kingdom	January 2004	February 2004	March 2004
Clean Pigs	75.8	74.9	74.6
Sows and Boars	158.1	160.4	157.6
Kilogramme

Livestock slaughtered under the Over Thirty Month Scheme are excluded.
A dataset showing slaughter statistics for the same months in previous years can be found on the Defra website at
http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/datasets/alldcw.xls.

3. UK monthly home-killed production of meat

The surveys of slaughterhouses also collect information on the meat produced. This enables the total quantity of meat produced in the United Kingdom to be calculated. Home-killed production includes livestock imported into the United Kingdom for slaughter and differs from home-fed production (see Table 6) which excludes livestock imported into the United Kingdom for slaughter. The figures are shown in statistical months.

United Kingdom	January 2004 5 weeks	February 2004 4 weeks	March 2004 4 weeks
Beef	62	56	57
Mutton and Lamb	28	22	20
Pigmeat	68	56	53
Thousand tonnes

Livestock slaughtered under the Over Thirty Month Scheme are excluded.

4. UK average weekly slaughterings

The monthly figures shown in Table 1 are affected by the number of weeks in the month. In order to provide a better, and more immediately accessible to readers, measure of trends over time, the following tables show average weekly slaughterings for each of the last twelve months. Longer time series are shown in the charts.

	2003										2004
Pigs	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
Clean Pigs	168	167	173	168	169	182	180	184	172	169	175	166
Sows and Boars	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	5	5	5
Thousand head

Further Information

To read the full report, please click here (PDF Format)

Source: Defra - 13th April 2004