Cattle and sheep weekly wrap
08 November 2024
Key points:
- Steer to heifer premium continues, indicating reduced demand for breeding females.
- Plenty of lighter new season lambs were seen, while there was limited supply of heavy and trade-weight lambs.
- The second-largest weekly sheep slaughter since was reached.
Cattle market
The cattle market has remained steady, with only slight movements across indicators. Yardings increased by 2,474 to 61,619 head, though buyer participation was subdued due to the Melbourne Cup.
The Heavy Steer Indicator remained stable, rising by less than 1¢ to 326¢/kg liveweight (lwt). While overall quality has dipped, there are still high-quality heavy export steers and heifers available.
The Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator eased by 7¢ to 268¢/kg lwt, with yardings decreasing by 1,553 to 2,865 head. The steer to heifer premium continues to track 23–38% above the heifer market, indicating light demand for breeding females, which could potentially lead to lower prices.
Sheep market
Overall, the sheep market has eased across all indicators. Combined sheep and lamb yardings remained steady, lifting slightly by 786 head, with lamb yardings up by 8,128 and sheep yardings down by 7,342 head.
Heavy young export lambs continue to dwindle. The National Heavy Lamb Indicator fell by 27¢ to 818¢/kg carcase weight (cwt), with yardings also easing by 2,753 to 11,820 head.
There were plenty of lighter new season lambs, while some saleyards are experiencing limited supplies of prime trade and heavy weights. The Light Lamb Indicator eased by 34¢ to 678¢/kg cwt. NSW also experienced a price drop of 51¢ due to limited buying opportunities at Wagga, where lightweight lambs attracted a broader range of buyers, including restockers and feedlots.
Slaughter
Week ending 1 November
Cattle slaughter eased by 1,669 to 143,668 head, with reductions in both Queensland (2,103 head) and NSW (79 head). Despite this, slaughter remains strong, tracking almost 10% above 2023 figures.
Lamb slaughter has been increasing over the past few weeks, with national numbers up by 9,884 to 452,262 head. NSW and Victorian both experienced lifts in lamb slaughter by 11,855 and 5,159 head respectively, while SA and WA both eased by 5,262 and 2,452 head respectively.
Even with a decrease of 12,629 to 232,895 head, sheep slaughter reached its second-largest weekly figure since 2008. Slaughter numbers declined in most states, mainly due to decreases in NSW (13,366 head), Queensland (2,852 head) and WA (2,571 head).
Attribute to Emily Tan, MLA Market Information Analyst
