Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

10 Apr 2026

Key points

Cattle and mutton yardings reduced due to the Easter break, while lamb yardings lifted.
All cattle indicators fell over the week, except for the Dairy Cow Indicator.
Both cattle and sheep slaughter decreased.

The Easter break continued to impact markets as cattle and sheep yardings remained at levels similar to last week. The Feeder Heifer and Steer Indicators both experienced notable decreases, while sheep indicators continued to show strength across tight supply. Both cattle and sheep slaughter were heavily impacted by the Easter long weekend, with reduced production levels.

Cattle market

National cattle yardings fell to 48,351 head (-12.3%). Despite the lighter yarding, all indicators fell week-on-week (WoW), except for the Dairy Cow Indicator, which lifted 3.6% to 336.5¢/kg liveweight (lwt).

Both Feeder Heifer and Feeder Steer Indicators had the largest drop, falling 4% and 1.7% respectively, at 392¢/kg lwt and 456¢/kg lwt. The drop in the feeder market will be important to monitor over the coming weeks, particularly beyond the reach of potential disruptions caused by the Easter break.

The Processor Cow Indicator remained stable at 330¢/kg lwt across an offering of 7,698 head. Dubbo contributed to 14% of the yarding and achieved an average price of 340¢/kg lwt.

Sheep market

The national lamb yarding lifted to 125,457 head, up 11.3%, while mutton yardings decreased (-5.5%) to 42,209 head. All market indicators lifted on the previous week, from 1% for the Trade Lamb Indicator and 4.7% for the Light Lamb Indicator.

The Mutton Indicator lifted 1.8% to 813.8 ¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) across an offering of 22,810 head. The Mutton Indicator surged 59.7% year-on-year (YoY), underscoring strong demand.

The Light Lamb Indicator lifted (4.7%) to 1,193¢/kg cwt across a smaller offering of 5,833 head. Forbes contributed 43.5% of the total, achieving an average price of 1,232¢/kg cwt.

Slaughter

Week ending 3 April 2026

Cattle

Cattle slaughter fell 19.2%, continuing to reflect elevated processing levels when accounting for the Good Friday shutdown.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 18% to 29,415 head
Queensland: down 7% to 68,050 head
SA: up 1% to 3,823 head
Tasmania: down 16% to 4,154 head
Victoria: down 7.5% to 21,969 head
WA: up 27.7% to 3,320 head.

Sheepmeat

National lamb slaughter fell 15.5% to 351,310 head (-30.6% YoY). National mutton slaughter fell 4.5% to 116,951 head (-38.6% YoY).

State-by-state lamb slaughter YoY:

NSW: down 20.6% to 99,582 head
Queensland: down 20% to 1,121 head
SA: down 36.5% to 36,366 head
Tasmania: down 53% to 5,065 head
Victoria: down 38% to 156,549 head
WA: down 9.8% to 52,627 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 10 April 2026

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