Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap
13 December 2024
Key points:
- Restockers dominated the market, driving prices upward.
- Lighter lambs at Wagga were sold for around $10/kg cwt.
- Combined sheep and lamb slaughter reached the second largest slaughter on record.
Cattle market
The cattle market was largely positive this week, with the exception of the Heavy Steer Indicator. Restockers dominated the market, driving prices upward. Yarding lifted by 3,962 to 69,730 head.
The Restocker Yearling Steer lifted by 8¢ to 390¢/kg liveweight (lwt), and prices lifted in the majority of states. At Wagga, restockers are getting heavier, leading to higher prices as producers are looking to replenish their stock. This is subsequently pushing up prices to 400¢/kg lwt.
The Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator lifted by 10¢ to 309¢/kg lwt and yardings eased by 512 to 2,150 head. At Dalby, heifers being sold to lot feeders were sold for 390c/kg lwt as a larger percentage of cattle that were presented were cows and heifers.
Sheep market
The sheep market trended positively with prices ending 33–105% above where they started at the same time last year. Total yardings lifted by 44,515 head, with sheep yardings easing by 5,440 head and lamb yardings lifting by 49,955 head.
The lack of heavy lambs available has subsequently lifted interest in lighter lambs. The Trade Lamb Indicator lifted by 21¢ to 879¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). Yardings lifted by 10,885 head. Export buyers at Wagga dropped weight requirements to try to fill more load and bought lambs weighing 24–26kg.
The last sale of the week witnessed light lambs being bought for 1,000¢/kg cwt as store buyers were back and prepared to bid against processors for lambs under 19kg. As a result, the Light Lamb Indicator lifted by 96¢ to 797¢/kg cwt, with prices lifting in a majority of states except Tasmania.
Slaughter
Week ending 6 December 2024
Cattle slaughter lifted by 407 to 143,835 head, marking the fourth largest weekly slaughter since 2020. Slaughter eased in most states except NSW. NSW slaughter lifted by 840 head, with only small reductions in slaughter in Victoria (152 head) and WA (171 head).
Combined sheep and lamb slaughter lifted by 21,377 to 730,123 head, achieving the second largest combined sheep and lamb slaughter on record.
Lamb slaughter lifted by 7,817 to 475,253 overall, with Victorian slaughter lifting by 10,023 to 255,294 head experiencing the second largest weekly slaughter on record. SA slaughter lifted by 4,219 head while NSW slaughter eased by 4,275 head.
Sheep slaughter reached the largest weekly slaughter since 2003, processing 254,870 head. Slaughter lifted in most states except Victoria and Tasmania. WA (54,872 head) and NSW (111,038 head) sheep slaughter both reached the largest weekly slaughter figures in more than two decades.
Attribute to Emily Tan, MLA Market Information Analyst
