Collection

Cattle, sheep and pig slaughter

Monthly UK statistics on the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published
17 October 2013
Last updated
12 June 2025 — See all updates

This monthly series gives the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered in the UK for human consumption, the average dressed carcase weights and the quantity of meat produced in the UK.

User engagement

Data from the cattle, sheep and pig slaughter statistics are an invaluable evidence base for policy makers, academics and researchers. The data is also heavily relied upon by livestock industry, including divisions of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). The cattle, sheep and pig slaughter statistics are used for the numbers of slaughtering’s and meat production to assess the current state of the industry and predict the available supplies of meat for the coming year. This, in turn, can affect meat prices and trade decisions on levels of imports and exports to maintain supply.

As part of our ongoing commitment to compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics we wish to strengthen our engagement with users of cattle, sheep and pig slaughter statistics data and better understand the use made of them and the types of decisions that they inform. Consequently, we invite users register as a user of the cattle, sheep and pig slaughter statistics, so that we can retain your details and inform you of any new releases and provide you with the opportunity to take part in user engagement activities that we may run.  If you would like to register as a user of this data, please provide your details in the attached form.

Documents

Updates to this page

Published 17 October 2013
Last updated 12 June 2025 show all updates

  1. Added 2025 historical page.

  2. Add link to 2024 historic page.

  3. Note added to page explaining the postponement of the December 2023 release. This release has been postponed due to the requirement for additional quality assurance. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this delay. We aim to publish this release by 16th January 2024, this date will be confirmed shortly.

  4. Add historic page for 2023 data.

  5. Edited to include new page for 2022 historical publications.

  6. Edited to include statistics for 2021 for slaughter statistics.

  7. Added link to historical 2020 data page.

  8. Added link to historical statistics 2019 document page.

  9. Added link to historical statistics 2018 document page.

  10. Added historical notices page for 2017.

  11. Updated with 2016 historic notices page.

  12. Added link to historical notices for 2015.

  13. Added links to historic statistics notices.

  14. First published.

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