Weekly cattle and sheep wrap
21 March 2025
Key points:
- Cattle and lamb prices took a downturn this week.
- Victorian saleyards have reported light lambs sold into the Middle East, winter feeders and store orders held their value.
- Public holidays and processor closures have tempered slaughter figures.
Cattle market
The cattle market experienced a downturn this week. With a continued dry outlook, producers tried offloading more cattle this week, and yardings lifted by 21,192 to 81,876 head.
The Restocker Heifer Indicator lifted by 10¢ to 286¢/kg liveweight (lwt). Prices lifted in Queensland and Victoria, however they eased in NSW. Despite price lifts, buyers were more selective and looked for better lines of yearlings.
Sheep market
The sheep market ended the week in the red for all indicators. Combined sheep and lamb yardings lifted by 19,421 to 316,823 head, with market reports indicating an increased number of buyers. However, prices were erratic.
The Light Lamb Indicator eased by 30¢ to 697¢/kg carcase weight (cwt), and prices saw a drop in most states. Victorian saleyards have reported light lambs sold into the Middle East, winter feeders and store orders held their value while other animals struggled to maintain the prices of last week. There was a noticeable drop in the number of heavy lambs on offer due to the lack of quality lambs presented.
Processors appeared to prefer grain-finished lambs over grassfed lambs this week. The Trade Lamb Indicator eased by 24¢ to 771¢/kg cwt. Trade lambs at Wagga Wagga itnessed prices dropping by $8–11 to $138–200 per head compared to last week.
Slaughter
Week ending 14 March
Cattle slaughter eased by 2,819 to 130,198 head. Numbers have remained low as a result of processor closures. Queensland slaughter lifted by 3,389 head, however this remains lower than two weeks ago. Slaughter eased in NSW (2,012 head), Tasmania (1,015 head) and Victoria (3,913 head).
As a result of public holidays in several states, combined sheep and lamb slaughter eased by 48,392 to 651,235 head. National sheep slaughter eased by 10,931 to 194,797 head while lamb slaughter eased by 37,461 by 456,438 head. Lamb slaughter eased in:
- Victoria (38,904 head)
- Tasmania (2,107 head)
- South Australia (7,146 head)
- Queensland (221 head).
Attribute content to Emily Tan, MLA Market Information Analyst
