Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

08 May 2026

Key points

Rain throughout key cattle regions lifts markets.
Sheep and lamb yardings remain tight with mixed results.
Cattle slaughter remains elevated, while sheep and lamb slaughter drop.

Scattered rain throughout the Central West, Northern Tablelands and parts of Southern Queensland had a positive impact on cattle markets, with all indicators lifting and breaking a downward trend in place since mid-March. The rain had less impact on sheep and lamb markets, which recorded mixed results. Heavier processor lines and mutton remained most resilient.

Cattle market

The national cattle yarding lifted 9% to 71,230 head. Despite a Queensland public holiday, there were no disruptions to sales, showing a drawback from the record weekly yardings through March and April. Rain in central NSW to southern Queensland delivered a positive market rebound, with all indicators lifting from 2% for restocker steers and 10% for processor cows.

The Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator lifted 6.5% to 342¢/kg liveweight (lwt) across a small yarding of 3,000 head. Most of the supply (74%) came from Queensland yards. The strong price lift demonstrates the significance of on-farm conditions in recent market sentiment.

The Processor Cow Indicator lifted 10% to 326.5¢/kg lwt across an offering of 12,504 head, while the Dairy Cow Indicator lifted 9% to 321¢/kg lwt – the two largest lifts over the week. The supply of cows was spread evenly across regions.

Sheep market

The national lamb yarding lifted 10% to 162,200 head, while the mutton yarding also lifted 55% to 87,644 head. Dubbo accounted for a large component of the additional Mutton yarding, adding 16,500 head after missing the previous week due to the public holiday. Despite the significant increase, prices remained stable with the Mutton Indicator reaching 774.5¢/kg carcase weight (cwt).

The largest decline was seen for the Light Lamb Indicator, falling 4% to 1,079¢/kg cwt across a larger offering of 12,810 head. This continues a declining trend, down 10% over the last month. After receiving rain, Dubbo supplied 20% of the yarding and achieved a premium at 1,123¢/kg cwt.

The Trade Lamb Indicator fell 3% over the week to 1,151¢/kg cwt across a larger offering of 30,539 head. Dubbo again provided positive results, achieving the highest price at 1,181¢/kg cwt and supplying 22% of the contribution.

Slaughter

Week ending 1 May 2026

Cattle

National cattle slaughter fell 1% to 160,898 head, maintaining historically elevated levels, despite public holidays affecting kill days in NSW and WA.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):

NSW: up 1% to 32,665 head
Queensland: up 13% to 86,737 head
SA: up 28% to 5,295 head
Tasmania: up 6% to 5,295 head
Victoria: up 20% to 29,188 head
WA: up 27% to 3,154 head.

Sheepmeat

National lamb slaughter fell 8.2% to 385,535 head, while national mutton slaughter fell 5.7% to 111,890 head, both impacted from public holidays in NSW and WA. Processor-focused lines and mutton have remained most resilient at saleyards over the last month as sourcing remains contested for processors.

State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 25% to 102,806 head
Queensland: down 24% to 1,178 head
SA: down 33% to 39,293 head
Tasmania: down 33% to 7,740 head
Victoria: down 24% to 190,766 head.
WA: down 28% to 43,752 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, MLA Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 8 May 2026.

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