NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
September 2011	8 November 2011
October 2011	5 December 2011
November 2011	11 January 2012

INTRODUCTION

This publication presents statistics on livestock slaughterings and meat production. These statistics are based on a monthly collection from abattoirs and other major slaughtering establishments and include estimates of animals slaughtered by country butchers and other small slaughtering establishments. More detailed information on this series can be obtained by referring to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) quarterly publication, Livestock Products, Australia (cat. no. 7215.0).

Additional time series spreadsheets containing state/territory and national data are available from the Downloads tab for this publication. These spreadsheets contain original, seasonally adjusted and trend estimates for slaughtering and meat production for bulls, bullocks and steers, cows and heifers, cattle (excluding calves), calves, sheep, lambs and pigs.

The ABS welcomes any comments from readers regarding the usefulness, range and quality of the statistics presented in this publication. Comments can be forwarded to: The Environment and Agriculture Business Statistics Centre, Australian Bureau of Statistics, GPO Box 66, Hobart TAS 7001. Alternatively email <agriculture.statistics@abs.gov.au> or phone (03) 6222 5939.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


LIVESTOCK

The trend estimate for cattle slaughterings in August 2011 remained steady at 595 thousand compared to July 2011.

Calf slaughterings in August 2011 fell by 1% to 54 thousand compared to July 2011 and fell 12% compared to August 2010.

In August 2011, the trend estimate for sheep slaughterings remained steady at 364 thousand compared to July 2011.

Lamb slaughterings in August 2011 increased by 2% to 1.6 million compared to July 2011.

The trend estimate for pig slaughterings in August 2011 remained steady at 397 thousand compared to July 2011.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia, August 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle(a)	639 830	605 548	594 705
Calves	116 018	55 189	54 285
Sheep	348 127	372 880	363 981
Lambs	1 593 041	1 615 578	1 626 152
Pigs	415 296	396 597	396 632
(a) Excludes calves

MEAT

In August 2011, the trend estimate for beef production remained steady at 171 thousand tonnes compared to July 2011.

Veal production in August 2011 fell by 3% to 3 thousand tonnes compared to July 2011.

In August 2011, the production of mutton remained steady at 9 thousand tonnes.

Lamb production in August 2011 increased by 3% to 37 thousand tonnes compared to July 2011.

In August 2011, the trend estimate for production of pig meat increased by 1% to 29 thousand tonnes compared to July 2011.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia, August 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	184 740	174 637	171 290
Veal	5 075	3 195	3 325
Mutton	8 243	8 664	8 566
Lamb	35 509	37 095	37 314
Pig meat	31 108	29 294	29 475