Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap
16 May 2025
Key points:
- Cattle yardings eased by 24% after last week’s record.
- There was a strong interest for lambs over 30kg cwt.
- Second-largest weekly lamb slaughter at 521,289 head.
Cattle market
The cattle market took a downward turn this week, particularly the Dairy Cow Indicator which eased 59¢. The only exception was the Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator, which moved sideways. After a record level of yardings last week, there was a decrease of 24,995 to 76,448 head.
The Heavy Steer Indicator eased by 15¢ to 325¢/kg liveweight (lwt), with prices across most states decreasing. Wagga prices eased by 33 and Roma followed a similar trend, easing by 17¢. This might reflect the lack of throughput in the saleyard this week, with yardings easing by 765 head.
The feeder market eased by 8¢ to 367¢/kg lwt. Prices eased in all states except for Queensland, where prices moved sideways. According to the Wagga market report, lightweight steer prices also eased, with medium weights gaining traction with a limited number of heifers available.
Sheep market
The sheep market has been generally positive except for the Mutton and Restocker Lamb indicators. Sheep yardings eased by 81,944 to 322,164 head, and lamb and sheep yardings both fell by 45,450 and 36,544 head respectively.
There were outstanding lambs exceeding 30kg carcase weight (cwt) seen this week, resulting in the Heavy Lamb Indicator lifting by 7¢ to 856¢/kg (cwt). Wagga contributed 37% of total throughput – not all major export companies participated in the sale and the supermarkets were absent.
Light lambs under 18kg suited for the Middle East sold for $111–$173/head. This led to the light lamb prices lifting by 15¢ to 739¢/kg cwt.
Slaughter
Week ending 9 May 2025
Cattle slaughter eased by 968 to 143,258 head this week, although has lifted by 11% or 14,213 head year-to-date.
On a state-level, slaughter lifted in:
- NSW by 6,442 to 38,820 head
- SA by 759 to 3,783 head
- Victoria by 650 to 25,023 head.
Slaughter eased in the other states, particularly in Queensland, where it eased by 8,489 to 68,495 head.
Combined sheep and lamb slaughter lifted by 9,217 to 700,757 head. Lamb slaughter lifted by 1,681 to 521,289 head, remaining stable, particularly in NSW, Queensland, SA, Tasmania and WA . The lifts were largely driven by Victorian slaughter which lifted by 2,043 head. This marks the second-largest weekly lamb slaughter, beating the previous week.
Sheep slaughter lifted by 7,536 to 179,468 head; however, slaughter has eased by 4.7% compared to the same time last year. Slaughter lifted in WA and Victoria by 4,112 and 9,105 head, respectively, while slaughter eased in NSW by 4,273 head.
Attribute content to Emily Tan, MLA Market Information Analyst
