With a greater participation of females, Brazil slaughtered 10.29 million head of cattle in the first quarter of this year.

Brazil slaughtered 10.29 million head of cattle in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 3.3% compared to the same period last year and the best result for the first three months of any year in the historical series. Compared to the fourth quarter of last year, however, the volume of slaughter fell by 6.9%. The data were released this Tuesday (16) by IBGE and only consider operations carried out under some level of sanitary inspection (municipal, state or federal). The slaughter generated 2.63 million tons of carcasses, an increase of 5.1% compared to the same period of 2025, but a decrease of 10.3% compared to the amount obtained in the immediately preceding quarter. In the 1st quarter of 2026, the average weight of bovine carcasses was 256.08 kg, a quarterly increase of 1.7%, but an annual decrease of 3.6%.

Female participation increases

The total number of female cattle slaughtered reached 5.14 million animals – practically half (49.9%) of the total cattle slaughtered in the first quarter of 2026 – an increase of 4.3% compared to the same period in 2025 and 11.1% compared to the three months immediately preceding. The slaughter of heifers (females under 2 years old) accounted for 32.9% of the total female animals, equivalent to 1.69 million head. "After a sharp increase in the share of male slaughter in the second half of 2025, the share of female slaughter is again recovering sharply, almost surpassing the slaughter of males, a fact that only occurred in the second quarter of 2025," notes IBGE. The slaughter of male animals totaled 5.15 million head in the first three months of this year, with steers (males aged two years or older) representing 91.7% of that amount. The slaughter of adult males showed an increase of 1.9%, while that of steers increased by 6.4% compared to the first quarter of 2025.

Slaughter by region and state

The Central-West Region presented the highest proportion of cattle slaughter in the period (36% of the total), followed by the North (23.9%), Southeast (21.5%), South (9.4%) and Northeast (9.1%) Regions. The slaughter of approximately 326,280 more head of cattle in the first quarter of 2026, compared to the same period of the previous year, was driven by increases in 21 of the 27 Federative Units (States). Among those with a share above 1.0%, the most significant positive variations occurred in: Mato Grosso (+135,110 head), São Paulo (+128,200 head), Pará (+36,340 head), Rio Grande do Sul (+20,030 head) and Bahia (+16,350 head). Conversely, the largest decreases occurred in: Goiás (-68,610 head) and Mato Grosso do Sul (-32,640 head). In the ranking of states, Mato Grosso continues to lead in cattle slaughter, with 17.5% of the national share, followed by São Paulo (11.6%), Goiás (9.2%) and Pará (9.1%).

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.