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, with the exception of 2004 which is a 53 week statistical year where December 2004 statistics are for a 5 week month.

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	December 2005 4 weeks	January 2006 5 weeks	February 2006 4 weeks
Clean Pigs	709	817	685
Sows and Boars	11	17	14
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	December 2005	January 2006	February 2006
Clean Pigs	74.7	75.5	76.1
Sows and Boars	155.5	150.6	146.4
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	December 2005 4 weeks	January 2006 5 weeks	February 2006 4 weeks
Beef	60	77	63
Mutton and Lamb	27	31	24
Pigmeat	55	64	54
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.

	2005										2006
(Thousand Head)	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb
Clean Pigs	174	162	167	166	172	167	171	176	176	186	177	163
Sows and Boars	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	3
Thousand head

Further Information

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

Source: Defra - 23rd March 2006