NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
October 2009	4 December 2009
November 2009	8 January 2010
December 2009	3 February 2010
January 2010	4 March 2010
February 2010	8 April 2010

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. More detailed information on this series can be obtained by referring to the Australian Bureau of Statistics quarterly publication, Livestock Products, Australia (cat. no. 7215.0).


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

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


INQUIRIES

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


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


LIVESTOCK

• In September 2009, the trend estimate for cattle slaughterings increased 1% to 673 thousand.
• Sheep slaughterings were 805 thousand in September 2009, a decrease of 18% from September 2008.
• Lamb slaughterings were 1.8 million in September 2009, a 7% rise from September 2008.
• In September 2009, pig slaughterings increased by less than 1% to 380 thousand.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia - September 2009
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle (excl. calves)	665 476	657 034	673 400
Calves	116 114	62 125	62 634
Sheep	768 042	760 300	805 433
Lambs	1 934 539	1 830 435	1 813 902
Pigs	388 873	375 518	379 657

MEAT

• In September 2009, the trend estimate for beef production rose 1% to 181 thousand tonnes.
• At 17 thousand tonnes, mutton production decreased 2% in September 2009.
• Lamb production increased 1% to 38 thousand tonnes in September 2009.
• Pig meat production totalled 28 thousand tonnes in September 2009, representing a 1% increase from September 2008.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia - September 2009
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	180 409	176 832	180 853
Veal	4 374	2 770	2 783
Mutton	17 187	16 499	17 325
Lamb	39 348	37 912	37 563
Pig meat	28 379	27 178	27 524