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Sheep kill still low in September
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
By Rebecca Wright
During September UK sheep kill was exceptionally low for the time of year. Lamb kill stood at just over 1 million head, a 16% year-on-year decline. Meanwhile ewe kill dropped 15%, to 108,000 head.
Indications from the Defra England June survey suggest that the lamb crop this year has reduced by 3-4% once we consider lambs slaughtered before the 1 June. Scotland does record a contrast to this with an increase in the number of lambs. These are still provisional though, and full UK results won’t be available until December.
For the past two months lamb kill has been significantly below what we would expect.. In the year-to September just 8.3 million lambs have been slaughtered, down 11% (1.07 million) on the previous year.
It is hard to know if the lambs are still out there or not. Looking at the June survey data for England and Scotland, combined with Defra slaughter data, would suggest there are a significant number of lambs still available for production. However, the buoyant store lamb prices, and strong finished prices suggest that supply is not quite so plentiful.
Recorded ewe kill has been somewhat suspiciously low for over a year now. The large decline recorded this month brings the year-to September total for ewe kill to 854,000 head, 22% (237,000) lower than the year before. However, the decline recorded in Defra slaughter data is not reflected in auction market cull ewe throughputs.
Total UK sheep meat production during September stood at 23,000 tonnes. In the year-to September production totals 190,000 tonnes, down 25,000 tonnes (11%) on the previous year.
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