THE NUMBER OF sheep being slaughtered this year is down, in what the country’s largest farmers’ group has called another likely impact of Ireland’s long hot summer.

According to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the first seven months of 2026 saw the number of sheep slaughtered fall by 6.3% when compared with the same period in 2025.

Donegal sheep farmer Adrian Gallagher told The Journal that it is likely due to a number of factors, between the recent record-breaking hot spell and also the wet spring seen earlier this year.

This spring was wetter than average in the west of Ireland, where sheep farming is widespread, before temperatures hit 31 degrees in parts of the country in May and continued at high levels until recent days.

This in turn has slowed ‘finishing’ of lambs in recent weeks, Gallagher added, referring to the agri-industry term for getting animals to reach their target weight before slaughter.

“I have no doubt the drought has delayed lamb finishing,” said Gallagher, who is chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) national sheep committee.

Gallagher explained that the hot weather has resulted in poor grass quality.

This is because lambs are to gain roughly 250 grams daily as part of this process, but the dry weather has made it harder than usual to keep the young animals fed to that level.

“If grass quality is not there then their daily weight drops. I’d say lambs are probably a month behind, maybe even more,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher said another factor was the wet spring seen earlier this year, which saw farmers keep more of their flock indoors and likely increased their chances of picking up disease.

“It increases risk of infection,” Gallagher continued. “If you keep those lambs in for a week, there’s a higher chance of infection.”

“We’re getting hit by the weather. People wonder why Irish speak so much about the weather; it impacts our bottom line and flock turnover,” Gallagher said.

The farmer pointed to how the sector has been hit by a combination of challenges over the past five years, including the war in Ukraine resulting in “colossal” increases for fertiliser and feed, and the weather difficulties.

Since 2023, CSO figures show that the number of slaughters from January to July has dropped by half a million. For this year, it stands at 1.3 million.