Changes to AHDB deadweight sheep price reporting and why it matters

A significant change is happening across the sheep sector following the introduction of new legislation in Great Britain for carcase classification and deadweight price reporting. Joanne Cook, Head of Data and Analysis, looks at what this will mean and why it matters.

After many years of consultation with the industry, new rules have been introduced to make sheep carcase classification and deadweight price reporting statutory for many abattoirs.

What does this mean?

From this month (12 January 2026 in England and Scotland and 28 January 2026 in Wales) abattoirs across Great Britain killing over a certain number of sheep will be legally required to standardise dressing specifications and weighing methods.

The new law also introduces carcase classification and deadweight price reporting for sheep of less than 12 months old.

This is a significant step forward for the sheep sector in improving market transparency, bringing it in line with the cattle and pig sectors which already have similar legislation in place.

What happens next and what are we doing?

For many years we have taken great pride in providing independent, transparent and reliable market information to help levy payers make informed business decisions.

This spans our information on farmgate prices, production volumes, international trade flows and even how consumers buying habits are changing. 

Each week we have published weekly GB deadweight sheep prices based on a sample of abattoirs who have kindly provided their information voluntarily to us.

Because of our reputation as a trusted provider of high-quality and timely data, we have been asked to price report the GB deadweight sheep prices each week, as we do for cattle and pigs.

Following the introduction of the legislation this month, inspectors from the Rural Payments Agency and Scottish Government will check with abattoirs to ensure the new rules are being followed.

To ensure a smooth changeover for the industry in the way we report deadweight sheep prices, we will continue to publish weekly prices from the voluntary sample of abattoirs until the end of February 2026.

From March 2026, we will switch to using data from the new, larger sample of abattoirs who are required to price report under the new legislation.

Price information will be published for prime sheep falling within the SQQ weight band (12 kg–21.5 kg) and dressed to UK-standard specification (kidney knobs, channel fat and diaphragm skirt removed).

This is very similar to the GB deadweight sheep price series we have historically published.

All prices will continue to be published on our website each week. You can also sign up to receive updates each week using our preference centre.