Ireland slaughtered 1.1 million cattle between January and August 2026, 62,000 head or 5.4% fewer than in the same period of 2025, according to the Central Statistics Office's Livestock Slaughterings report for August.
August itself was busy: 139,000 cattle were slaughtered, 21% more than in August 2025.
Sheep slaughterings in the first eight months fell 3.4%, or 53,000 head, to 1.5 million, although August's 212,000 head was 20,000 or 10.3% more than a year earlier.
Pig slaughterings were estimated at 2.3 million head for January to August, up 89,000 or 4.0% on 2025, and August's 286,000 head was 17,000 or 6.3% higher than a year before.
Weekly factory cattle supplies have been running above last year since July after trending below 2025 levels in the first half, so the deficit in the cattle kill to date is narrowing. The report is by Aisling O'Brien.
Source: Agriland
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