§ Mr. Adam Butlerasked the Minister of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food what were the number of sow slaughterings in the last available four-week and three-month period, and for comparable periods in the previous year; and what proportion of these were judged to be sows in pig for each period.
§ Mr. BishopFigures are available up to and including the first week in January but those for the final weeks of 1976 and early 1977 are unrepresentative due to the effect of Christmas and New Year holidays on abattoir working.
In the four weeks up to 18th December 1976, 38.5 thousand head of sows and boars were slaughtered in the United Kingdom compared with 30.3 thousand head in the corresponding period in 1975. In the three-month period up to the end of November the corresponding totals were 103.3 thousand and 84.2 thousand head. No figures are available of the numbers of sows slaughtered which were in pig.