“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.
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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.