Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

12 Dec 2025

Key points

Sheep and cattle market buyers became more selective heading into Christmas.
Sheep and lamb markets softened overall, with steady yardings.
Cattle slaughter increased across all eastern states and lamb slaughter lifted slightly.

Cattle market

All cattle market indicators dropped, with the Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator the best performer of the week. Cattle yardings eased by 3,129 to 97,326 head but still marked the fourth largest weekly yarding of the year.

Heavy steer yardings eased by 438 to 2,691 head and the Heavy Steer Indicator dropped 8¢ to 443¢/kg liveweight(lwt). Market reports noted a decline in quality as buyers prepare for Christmas but both domestic and export cattle buyers were selective. Dips in quality have also impacted the Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator − easing 11¢ to 490¢/kg lwt.

Sheep market

The sheep market has followed the cattle market trend. With Christmas on the horizon, combined sheep and lamb yardings remained relatively high, only dropping slightly to 442,218 head.

The Trade Lamb Indicator eased 4¢ to 1, 070¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). Prices across the states were mixed, with Victoria seeing a 10¢ lift but NSW easing 16¢. Wagga reported erratic price trends for trade lambs.

Sheep supply at Bendigo lifted 11,000 head with producers reluctant to hold lambs over the Christmas break. The Mutton Indicator eased 26¢ to 740¢/kg cwt, while yardings dropped by 9,219 head. NSW prices eased 32¢ while Victorian prices lifted 8¢.

Slaughter

Week ending 5 December 2025

Cattle slaughter

Slaughter increases across all eastern states supported a national cattle slaughter lift − rising to 156,012 head. NSW, Queensland, SA, Tasmania and Victoria all recorded week-on-week (WoW) growth, with WA the only state to decline.

State-by-state breakdown of cattle slaughter:

NSW: up 4.5% to 37,419 head
Queensland: up 4.0% to 79,674 head
SA: up 5.8% to 3,841 head
Tasmania: up 2.2% to 4,997 head
Victoria: up 4.4% to 26,320 head
WA: down 7.3% to 3,761 head.

Sheep slaughter

National lamb slaughter lifted 2% WoW to 419,835 head, supported by strong gains in WA − up 6,001 head (+14%) and SA up 5,545 head (+15%). Queensland also recorded a minor increase (+35 head), while NSW (-1,153 head), Victoria (-2,344 head), and Tasmania (-209 head) all eased. Despite the weekly rise, national lamb slaughter remained 11.7% below year-ago levels. Victoria’s throughput of 225,368 head was the largest national contributor.

Sheep slaughter softened marginally − down 1% WoW to 187,078 head − but volumes were significantly lower year-on-year (-26.6%). WA (+2,673 head) and SA (+1,025 head) posted increases, but declines in Victoria (-4,794 head), NSW (-119 head), and Tasmania (-120 head) outweighed the gains. Victoria remained the second-largest contributor at 48,491 head, despite its notable weekly drop.

State-by-state breakdown of lamb slaughter:

NSW: down 1% to 92,021 head
Queensland: up 3% to 1,288
SA: up 15% to 43,577
Tasmania: down 4% to 5,332
Victoria: down 1% to 225,368
WA: up 14% to 48,249.

Attribute content to Emily Tan, MLA Market Information Analyst.

Information is correct at time of publication on 12 December 2025

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