Beef and lamb: what do I get for my levy?

Helping beef and lamb farmers prosper.

We want beef and lamb farmers to succeed and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Rising global populations and growing demand for nutritious foods mean the long-term prospects for beef and lamb remain bright.

However, we must respond to growing consumer interest not only in consuming meat and animal health and welfare, but increasingly in our environment footprint.

Your levy at work

Find out more about how your money is invested and how it makes a difference to your business. Prices are per head for cattle or lamb.

• AHDB collects £5.40 per head of cattle (excluding calves), this is made up of a producer (£4.05) and slaughter (£1.35) levy. A levy of £0.08 is taken as a producer levy and as a slaughter levy on calves with a carcase weight <68kg
• AHDB collects £0.80 per head of sheep. This is made up of a producer (£0.60) and slaughter (£0.20) levy
• Non-levy income, e.g. grants and funding, offers extra value for levy payers on your investment
• Figures are based on the 2021/22 Business Plan with overheads allocated on a pro-rata or estimated resource basis (prior year financial statements are published in our Annual Report and Accounts)

We export around one third of our total lamb crop and 15% of UK beef production, adding a total of £885 million to the beef and lamb sectors. The EU remains the leading market for UK beef and lamb exports where AHDB lead on beef and lamb promotion while developing new opportunities further afield across Asia and the Americas.

AHDB works with government and industry to open new markets for beef and lamb. Following the opening of the USA market to British beef late in 2020, the first full year of exports to the USA in 2021 were valued at £11 million.

Our We Eat Balanced campaign reached 18.5m consumers promoting the true story of beef and lamb. This resulted in 11%, or 800,000, more people intending to buy red meat (source Kantar).

Helping drive improvements and deliver solutions across almost all areas of production, our targeted research aims to support you and aid on-farm decisions.

Our Strategic and Monitor Farms, events and publications ensure you are connected with the latest research and innovation to support your business.

We provide easy-to-access, independent market prices and analysis to help inform your business decisions.

Did you know the market prices in Farmers Weekly and Farmers Guardian are produced by AHDB?

The Livestock Information Programme, funded by AHDB and DEFRA, enables advanced tracing of sheep movements, helping to enhance the reputation of British lamb at home and overseas.