Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

10 Jul 2026

Key points

Multiple sheep indicators broke records against a continuing decline in supply.
A lift in the cattle yarding brought mixed results.
Cattle slaughter fell across all states.

Cattle market

The national cattle yarding lifted 9% to 62,672 head, with indicators showing mixed results. The Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator had the biggest drop over the week – 3.5% to 460¢/kg liveweight (lwt) – while the Heavy Steer Indicator lifted 3% to 452¢/kg lwt.

The National Young Cattle Indicator remained stable (+1%) at 533.5¢/kg lwt, with Queensland continuing to dominate supply. In total, Queensland contributed 60% of the total offering – 25% from Roma and a further 20% from online channels. The market report from Roma noted a present and active influence from southern buyers.

The Processor Cow Indicator remained stable this week at 377¢/kg lwt across an offering of 7,867 head. Supply was evenly spread but tapered off slightly moving south. Queensland made up 35% of the offering, with NSW at 37% and Victoria at 20%.

Sheep market

This week, supply continued to tighten, resulting in daily indicator records being broken across:

National Mutton Indicator at 928.7¢/kg carcase weight (cwt)
Trade Lamb Indicator at 1,252¢/kg cwt
Merino Lamb Indicator at 1,158¢/kg cwt.

The national lamb yarding fell 7% this week to 104,251, while the national sheep yarding fell 12% to 32,487, making it the lowest weekly sheep yarding not affected by public holidays on record.

The Trade Lamb Indicator finished the week at 1,249¢/kg cwt and had a total weekly offering of 23,549 head, with 70% of supply coming from NSW, 22% from Victoria and WA making up 6%. In WA, the indicator sits at 1,111¢/kg cwt.

The Restocker Lamb Indicator had the biggest drop over the week, falling 2% to 1,189¢/kg cwt across an offering of 13,497 head. WA accounted for 42% of the offering at 5,638 head. The indicator across the two sales at Katanning and Muchea reached 1,103¢/kg cwt. NSW contributed 45% of the offering and Victoria made up 7%. Best prices came from Corowa, Dubbo and Wagga, all averaging over 1,335¢/kg cwt.

Slaughter

Week ending 3 July 2026

Please note that as of the reporting week ending 3 July, a Queensland-based beef processor has discontinued their contribution to the National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) weekly slaughter report. Please be aware of this for comparisons across time. MLA relies on voluntary submissions from processing plants nationally.

NLRS continues to work towards improving slaughter report coverage, which currently represents approximately 80% of national slaughter.

Cattle

National cattle slaughter fell 7% week-on-week (WoW) to 145,302 head as all states’ slaughter levels dropped. NSW dropped 6% over the week to 33,018, while Queensland had the biggest weekly drop of 10% to 75,673 head, partially impacted by the change in reporting.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 10% to 33,018 head
Queensland: down 3% to 75,673 head
SA: stable at 3,826 head
Tasmania: down 6% to 4,728 head
Victoria: down 9% to 24,232 head
WA: up 34% to 3,825 head.

Sheepmeat

National lamb and mutton slaughter dropped this week as supply continues to tighten and several facilities remain closed for winter maintenance periods. National lamb lifted WoW to 348,793 head, with a boost in supply found in NSW and Victoria. National mutton fell 8% WoW to 42,390 head.

State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):

NSW: up 5% to 102,870 head
Queensland: down 25% to 1,048 head
SA: down 56% to 21,445 head
Tasmania: down 38% to 4,990 head
Victoria: down 7.5% to 182,962 head
WA: down 22% to 35,478 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, MLA Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 10 July 2026.

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