Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap
Key points
- There were mixed results across cattle indicators despite a bigger national yarding.
- Results from Bendigo’s First X Blue Ribbon Sale showed strong demand for breeding stock.
- Cattle slaughter continues to decline, evident from mid-October.
Cattle indicators recorded mixed results this week. Lambs continue to slowly come forward from southern saleyards with Victoria and SA accounting for 59% of the Restocker Lamb Indicator, while conditions for processors remain difficult as cattle slaughter continues to decline.
Cattle market
The national cattle yarding increased 22% over the week to 81,754 head with mixed results recorded across the indicators. Results ranged from a 2.5% decrease in the Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator to a 1.8% lift in the Feeder Steer Indicator.
Dubbo recorded a 10,500 head yarding, with the market report noting a fair quality offering, but increased competition from both northern and southern restockers.
The Processor Cow Indicator remained steady week-on-week at 410¢/kg liveweight (lwt) across an offering of 11,212 head. Wagga Wagga and Dubbo accounted for 12% and 11% of the offering respectively.
The Feeder Steer Indicator dropped 0.6% over the week to 550¢/kg lwt across an offering of 10,153 head. Best prices were recorded in northern NSW and southern Queensland with Dalby, Gunnedah and Tamworth saleyards all reaching above 580¢/kg lwt.
Sheep market
The national lamb yarding increased 25% over the week to 248,027 head, with the sheep yarding lifting 6%. Off the back of the Melbourne Cup public holiday, Victoria accounted for the majority of the increase, lifting 73%. SA also saw a 55% increase in the lamb yarding to 40,287 head.
The Restocker Lamb Indicator rose 3% over the week to 1,259¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) across an offering of 71,894 head. Ballarat formed 19% of the offering, while Naracoorte made up 14% of the total as more numbers came forward from southern yards. Market reports point to a similar quality to last week’s offering.
The Mutton Indicator remained steady on last week (-0.3%) at 867¢/kg cwt across an offering of 49,642 head. Wagga Wagga formed 23% of the yarding to make 916¢/kg cwt.
Held on 6 November, Bendigo’s First X Blue Ribbon sale offered 9,500 head of 1.5-year-old ewes, which topped at $620/head to average $556/head, showing strong demand for breeding stock.
Slaughter
Week ending 6 November 2026
Cattle
National cattle slaughter continued to decrease, down 5% over the week to 125,552 head. Across the states NSW dropped 9%, Tasmania -18%, Victoria -12%, SA -4%, while Queensland lifted 1% and WA lifted 5%.
While Victorian slaughter was impacted by the Melbourne Cup public holiday, processing activity continues a sharp decline evident from mid-October.
State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):
- NSW: down 19% to 29,161 head
- Queensland: down 19% to 65,231 head
- SA: down 3% to 3,693 head
- Tasmania: down 1% to 3,921 head
- Victoria: down 7% to 19,617 head
- WA: up 7% to 3,929 head.
Sheep
National lamb slaughter decreased 9% week-on-week to 361,320 head, while national sheep slaughter decreased 14% to 163,716 head.
Across the states, week-on-week lamb slaughter showed a 6% increase in Queensland and decreases across NSW -6%, SA -3%, Tasmania -45%, Victoria -11 and WA -4%. Victorian processing was once again impacted by the Melbourne Cup public holiday.
Across the states for national sheep slaughter, declines were recorded across NSW -16%, Queensland -14%, SA -3%, Tasmania -32%, Victoria -24%, while WA slaughter increased 6%.
State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):
- NSW: down 5% to 100,710 head
- Queensland: down 23% to 1,052 head
- SA: down 28% to 32,338 head
- Tasmania: down 30% to 4,469 head
- Victoria: down 10% to 168,373 head
- WA: down 5% to 55,378 head.
