Processing volumes lift ahead of public holidays

The long weekend effect

Australia is heading into a series of public holidays that are expected to disrupt regular operations at saleyards and meat processing plants across the country. As anticipated, MLA market analysts observed early signs of these disruptions in last week’s NLRS saleyard throughput and slaughter data.

The upcoming national public holidays include:

• Easter: Friday 18 April – Monday 21 April
• ANZAC Day: Friday 25 April
• Labour Day (Queensland) and May Day (NT): Monday 5 May

It is important to note that market indicators and processing volumes will be impacted over the upcoming weeks. MLA will continue to monitor the prices and markets and will return to regular market commentary once all saleyards are back online.

A list of affected sales can be found at the bottom of this report.

Saleyard throughput

In the week ending 11 April, saleyard activity lifted across all major livestock categories as producers prepared for the upcoming long weekends:

• sheep yardings rose 76% to 176,672 head
• lamb yardings increased 46% to 255,891 head — the highest weekly figure since early January
• cattle yardings lifted 30% to 82,422 head.

Early sales this week have continued this trend, with Wagga saleyards experiencing record throughput on Monday (14 April).

Producers have been motivated to turn-off stock prior to the long weekend due to several large saleyards not operating and fewer processor buyers, creating reduced demand and competition. Additionally, markets have remained relatively firm on month-ago and year-ago prices while in a period of high supply. This indicates producers may also be taking advantage of a stable market.

Processing numbers

After 15 weeks of strong cattle slaughter, processing volumes have reached a significant milestone. For the week ending 11 April, NLRS-reporting processors – covering approximately 80% of the national kill – pushed national cattle slaughter past 150,000 head for the first time since June 2019.

NSW and Victorian processors were the main drivers, both with their largest kill weeks for five years, processing 37,994 and 25,411 head respectively. However, consistent lifts across all states last week (up 0–⁠8%) led to the national throughput figure of 152,180 head.

When calculated against the NLRS coverage, national slaughter for last week reached 179,572 head, an impressive figure representing the capacity of the national beef processing sector.

Lamb processing also hit record territory, with NLRS-reported figures reaching 527,045 head — the fourth consecutive week above the half-million mark. These numbers reflect the strong supply of the 2024 lamb cohort, many of which were retained longer due to poorer conditions and weight gain decisions.

Every state saw an increase in throughput between 1–⁠8%. NSW was up 5% to 131,364 — its largest week since September 2024. Victoria also lifted 3% on last week to 261,758 — the second largest state throughput, just behind last months record.

For the previous two years, processing volumes in the week prior to Easter consistently lifted in preparation for holiday-related slowdowns. The increases seen this year are in line with this historical trend.

Table: NLRS covered markets which will be impacted by public holidays

Attribute to: Erin Lukey, MLA Senior Market Information Analyst