Beef kill: Weekly cattle supplies continue to trend below last year
Latest beef kill figures show almost 30,600 head of cattle were slaughtered at Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM)-approved factories in the week ending Sunday, May 3.
Last week's kill is over 1,700 head below the equivalent week of last year, continuing the trend of reduced weekly kill numbers that has been seen to date this year.
The cumulative 2026 beef kill this year now stands at 636,500 head, which is a total of over 84,000 head of cattle below this time last year.
The table below details weekly beef kill numbers in the week ending Sunday, May 3, versus the same week of last year and the cumulative beef kill-to-date this year versus the same week of last year as well as the cumulative difference:
| Animal Type | Week ending, Sun, May 3 | Equivalent Last Year | Cumulative 2026 | Cumulative 2025 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young Bulls | 1,512 | 1,779 | 42,533 | 42,723 | -190 |
| Bulls | 630 | 540 | 7,639 | 8,355 | -716 |
| Steers | 12,289 | 12,488 | 205,831 | 232,811 | -26,980 |
| Cows | 6,355 | 7,226 | 117,156 | 145,011 | -27,855 |
| Heifers | 9,799 | 10,279 | 179,156 | 207,587 | -28,431 |
| Total | 30,585 | 32,312 | 552,315 | 636,487 | -84,172 |
Interestingly, the cow kill has fallen off this year with the number killed to date this year standing at just over 117,000 head - almost 28,000 head below last year.
A total of 207,500 heifers have been slaughtered to date this year, back 28,400 head on last year.
The steer kill-to-date this year stands at 205,800 head - back by almost 27,000 on this time last year.
The graph below shows how weekly beef kill numbers have been trending compared to last year:
Looking into the summer months and autumn of this year, there has been some talk of factory cattle supplies tightening.
However, with supplies already back by over 84,000 head on last year, it is hard to see any major further supply drop-off later in the year with Bord Bia forecasting the 2026 factory cattle supply to be largely similar to last year.
Weekly kill numbers dipped below 30,000 head in early May last year and only surpassed 30,000 head once from then until November. Kill numbers will likely not see that same drop off this year - assuming the cattle supply forecasts materialise.
According to Bord Bia, 1.59 million cattle were slaughtered in Ireland in 2025 and the 2026 supply forecast is for a beef kill of 1.56-1.6 million cattle.
The 2025 Irish beef kill saw supplies drop by 213,000 head on the previous year.
