Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

Cattle market

The cattle market was positive once again, with all indicators bar the Processor Cow Indicator showing green. Yardings fell by 12,098 head to 59,393 – this is below the weekly average of 61,197 head.

Despite a dip in throughput, the Dairy Cow Indicator rose week-on-week to 245¢/kg liveweight (lwt). This is the highest price dairy cows have received since December 2022, with Victoria driving the prices up.

The national feeder steer price lifted again by 12¢ to 365¢/lg lwt. This price has not been seen since May 2023, indicating the market may be moving away from the price dips seen earlier this year. Following market trends and the rain, NSW prices drove the feeder steer price, coming in 20¢ above the national price at 385¢/kg lwt, with Dubbo leading at 395 ¢/kg lwt.

Sheep market

The sheep and lamb markets were mixed this week. Light lambs and trade lambs both lifted, with restockers remaining relatively flat, and a strong slip in the mutton, heavy lamb and Merino lamb markets.  

Yardings fell 25%. Sheep yardings eased 25,664 head to 75,462, with lamb yardings easing by 57,535 head to 170,941. Combined yardings fell below the weekly average for 2024 with a decrease of 83,199 to 246,403. Mutton prices dipped week-on-week by 27¢ to 376¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). Following seasonal trends, supply dipped, falling by just under 20,000 to 54,086 head. Processor shutdowns and winter stalls have led to a break in supply.

The National Trade Lamb Indicator lifted 20¢ to 809¢/kg cwt. Along with a dip in supply, yardings eased by just under 7,000 to 34,186 head. NSW was the largest driver of the price shift, with most trade-ready lambs moving through Wagga, Forbes and Dubbo. Areas less impacted by dry conditions have been able to provide trade ready lambs later through the season.

Slaughter

Week ending 28 July 2024

Cattle slaughter dipped last week by 1,514 head to 139,788 processed. This has kept weekly slaughter above the weekly average for 2024. It also remains 15% above the year-to-date slaughter when compared to 2023. Tasmania was the only state where slaughter lifted, though only by 332 head to a total of 4,841. All states remained relatively flat, easing by less than 3% with totals as follows, SA (3,336), Queensland (72,782), Victoria (21,829), and NSW (34,349). WA saw the largest shift down, easing by 9% to 2,588 head processed over the week.

Lamb slaughter lifted by 6,802 head (2%). Despite the lift, lamb slaughter remained below the average weekly kill of 2024, but 21% above the year-to-date compared to 2023. Sheep slaughter lifted by 34% or 33,974 head on the previous week.

Combined slaughter lifted 8% to a total 568,918 head. This was buoyed by a 37% lift in NSW to 188,958, with plants coming back online. WA (35,366), SA (67,610) and Victoria (267,853) eased slightly on the previous week, by less than 2%. Queensland (1,402) and Tasmania (7,733) saw the most considerable throughput declines by 16% and 28% respectively.