Ireland: The first week of 2023 sees over 51,000 sheep processed

The first week of 2023 saw 51,000 sheep processed, up over 7,000 head on the corresponding week in 2022. The first week of processing at meat processing plants was once again a shorter one due to the bank holiday Monday on account of New Year’s Day. This meant a four day processing week which ended with 51,760 sheep being processed according to figures released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). Looking at the kill figures for last week (week ending January 7), 46,292 hoggets were processed, along with 5,465 ewes and rams. 2022 sheep kill Looking at the final kill figures for 2022, released by the DAFM, 2,992,046 sheep were processed in 2022. Advertisement This figure is 201,579 above the total figure of 2021, which was 2,720,467. Looking at the kill figures in more detail, 915,004 hoggets were processed in 2022, up 216,868 on the 2021 figure of 698,136. The number of spring lambs processed in meat processing plants came to 1,621,463 head in 2022, which ...