“Concerning trend” underlines prime lamb number fall
UK abattoir sheep throughput figures for June reveal a “concerning trend” with sheep numbers slaughtered substantially down in the first six months of this year compared to 2023.
Some 5.4 million prime lambs were processed in the first six months of the year, nine per cent down year-on-year and six per cent below 2022 levels.
The new data is detailed in Hybu Cig Cymru-Meat Promotion Wales’ (HCC) July Market Bulletin and Editor Glesni Phillips said it represented a “concerning trend” of consecutive lower numbers.
“This nine per cent fewer prime lambs equates to a weighty 564,400 head on 2023 numbers and is a knock-on effect of the information we saw in the 2023 June survey, which registered a ten per cent fall in sheep numbers.