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The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) reports that UK beef production in May was 75,900 tonnes (t), which is 4% lower than the same month last year, although it is an increase of 2% on April output.
When this is added to the production for the other months of 2025, overall UK beef production is running 10,000t below the same period in 2024, a fall of 3%.
Cattle numbers through factories reflected the production trend. Prime cattle numbers processed in May were up 5,000 head compared with the previous month, but were still 7,600 head lower than in May 2024.
Cow numbers also fell, down 3,000 head in May to 41,000 compared with the previous month, and were also 3,000 lower than the same month last year.
Lamb kill
It is more difficult to assess lamb numbers going through factories. On one hand, the numbers show a sharp fall in May, down 71,300 head or 7% compared with April to 911,000 head.
However, this is still 86,000 more than it was in May 2024, a 10% increase.
Part of the problem assessing monthly lamb data is that lamb sales are greatly influenced by religious festivals, Easter in the Christian calendar and Ramadan and Eid in the Muslim faith. All of these festivals have taken place in 2025 before May.
The other issue is the carryover of lambs born later in 2024 for slaughter in 2025.
The AHDB is of the view that a large carryover from 2024 to this year has been contributing to higher monthly kills this year compared with the corresponding month last year.
The sharp fall in lamb numbers processed in 2024 compared with 2023, down 8%, suggests that there is some merit in the attributing this year’s growth to a carryover from last year.
A further interesting feature of the UK lamb trade is the movement of live lambs from Northern Ireland to Britain for processing.
Looking at Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) export data going back to 2018, the week ending Friday 6 June shows 3,726 lambs went to Britain, the highest ever weekly total.
While this is relatively small in the context of the overall kill, it is significant in that it is a relatively new market for Northern Ireland exports that have traditionally moved south of the border for processing.
Drop in production met by imports
With a vibrant global trade in beef and sheepmeat, any deficit or surplus in supply is met by imports or exports.
UK fresh beef imports for the first four months of 2025 were broadly on par with last year at 54,854t, but UK exports have fallen by over 4,200t to 21,273t.
For sheepmeat, total export volumes have increased by over 3,000t in the first four months last year to 30,782t this year. Imports are at 26,500t, up from 23,839t in the same period in 2024.
While Irish sheepmeat exports are well diversified across several countries in Europe, the UK is by far our most important beef export market.
They take almost half of all our beef exports and, in volume terms, the UK is a farm more important market for Irish beef producers than the home Irish market. Therefore, the supply situation in the UK is particularly important.
Of course, Irish beef offers the same grass-based product from quality assured farms as domestic UK production - the only difference is the price that farmers receive. In Britain, while the gap has closed recently, for much of the past year it was €1/kg or more.
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