NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2011	14 June 2011
May 2011	8 July 2011
June 2011	10 August 2011

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.


EFFECT OF QUEENSLAND FLOODS

Extensive flooding began in late December 2010 in Queensland and was more wide spread in both Queensland and other states in January 2011. Any impact on these estimates that is directly attributable to the floods cannot be determined.

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 March 2011 remained steady compared to February 2011.
• Calf slaughterings in March 2011 fell 1% to 64 thousand compared to February 2011 and fell 20% compared to March 2010.
• In March 2011, the trend estimate for sheep slaughterings fell 3% to 406 thousand from February 2011 and decreased 24% compared to March 2010.
• Lamb slaughterings fell 1% to 1.4 million in March 2011 compared to February 2011.
• The trend estimate for pig slaughterings in March 2011 was little changed from February 2011 at 378 thousand.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia - March 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle(a)	651 938	593 680	612 367
Calves	45 655	55 656	64 408
Sheep	434 711	398 736	406 610
Lambs	1 492 286	1 431 766	1 438 382
Pigs	411 099	376 289	377 570
(a) Excludes calves

MEAT

• In March 2011, the trend estimate for beef production remained steady compared to February 2011.
• Veal production in March 2011 was little changed compared to February 2011 at 4 thousand tonnes.
• In March 2011, the production of mutton decreased to 9 thousand tonnes, a fall of 3% from February 2011 and a fall of 21% from March 2010.
• Lamb production was little changed in March 2011 at 32 thousand tonnes compared to February 2011.
• In March 2011, the trend estimate for production of pig meat remained steady at 28 thousand tonnes compared to February 2011.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia - March 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	186 671	169 006	174 027
Veal	3 533	3 478	4 181
Mutton	9 748	9 221	9 405
Lamb	33 420	31 743	31 631
Pig meat	30 161	27 547	27 765