Weekly sheep and cattle market wrap

Cattle market

The lack of Monday sales in NSW and Queensland impacted yardings, though reductions across all other states indicated a slowing of the market on a national scale. Cattle yardings eased 23,769 head or 33% to 48,171, the smallest yarding since April.

The cattle market was mixed with little correlation between indicators or supply. Restocker steers and heavy steers lifted by 3% to 355 ¢/kg liveweight (lwt) and 5% to 341¢/kg lwt, respectively. The Feeder Steer Indicator eased 1% to 349 ¢/kg lwt. Similarly, there was little correlation between the two cow indicators, with the Processor Cow Indicator easing 1% to 273 kg lwt and the Dairy Cow Indicator experiencing a lift of 3% to 257 ¢/kg lwt.

Market reports across major saleyards noted mixed quality as the biggest factor impacting prices and demand.

Sheep market

Despite the reduced sales, lamb yardings eased just 2% to 154,607 while national sheep yardings eased 16% to 79,710 head, totalling a combined reduction of 7% to 234,317 head. Yardings fell across most states except Tasmania and Victoria. In Victoria, yardings were up 44% to 36,579, the largest number since April, and up 50% on the weekly average for 2024.

The market was mixed, with only the Heavy and Trade Lambs indicators seeing green, indicating that producers whose stock can reach trade and export weights continue to be rewarded. Despite a 1,500 head lift in yardings, the Heavy Lamb Indicator lifted 29¢ (3%) to 821¢/kg carcase weight (cwt), and the Trade Lamb Indicator lifted 9¢ (1%) to 794¢/kg cwt.

Individual yardings were up following the positive movements last week. Good supplies of heavier young lambs are being met with strong demand from processors, with over 23,000 young lambs yarded in Wagga, 15,000 in Bendigo and 10,000 through Forbes. Shorn old-season lambs showing quality were also rewarded by the stronger market.

Mutton prices continued to decline this week, with the national indicator easing 19¢ (7%) to 267 ¢/kg cwt. Sheep through NSW, however, were rewarded for weight, with strong quality lifting the state indicator 10¢ to 298 ¢/kg cwt.

Slaughter

Week ending 4 October 2024

National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) weekly slaughter reporting operated as usual for the week ending 4 October with no public holidays impacting processing. However, scheduled maintenance shutdowns in NSW impacted processing.

Cattle slaughter remained steady week-on-week, with national throughput moving less than 1% to 140,401 head. This was driven by week-on-week throughput shifts of only 1% across NSW (33,970), Queensland (74,707), SA (3,318), and Tasmania (4,205). Victoria cattle slaughter lifted 7% to 21,382, back above the weekly average for 2024, while WA cattle slaughter lifted 25% to 2,819, though still 2% below the weekly average.

National lamb slaughter lifted 7% (26,3930) to 403,059 head. The largest lifts were in WA and Victoria, which returned to a full week of processing after a public holiday the previous week. WA lamb slaughter was up 28% to 52,385 head over the week, and Victoria picked up 27% to 216,589. NSW lamb processing eased 32% to 72,834, the smallest processing week since the same week last year (excluding Christmas week). National sheep slaughter eased 6% (13,183) to 210,208 head over the week. It was a mixed bag across states, with WA lifting 16% to 43,419, however the 19% dip in NSW had an impact on the national figure.

Combined sheepmeat slaughter remained relatively flat, shifting only 2% to 613,267 nationally. WA and Victoria lifted 22% and 19%, respectively, to 95,805 and 282,710, the largest throughput since May and June. Throughput in NSW eased 26% to 149,935 head, Tasmania was up 4% to 9,110, SA increased 2% to 74,139, and Queensland recorded an increase of 19% to 1,569.

Next week’s slaughter report will be impacted by the King's Birthday and Labour Day public holidays across NSW and Queensland.

Attribute to: Erin Lukey, MLA Senior Market Information Analyst