Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

17 Apr 2026

Key points

Record cattle yardings were achieved at Dubbo and Tamworth.
The Mutton Indicator lifted to a new record at 831¢/kg carcase weight.
Easter disruptions continued to impact cattle and sheepmeat slaughter.

Markets resumed with a full week of sales, resulting in a strong cattle yarding – the largest of the year so far. Sheep yarding numbers were also strong, with mixed results across the indicators. Weekly slaughter figures are still impacted by the Easter period.

Cattle market

Drying conditions across northern NSW continued to push producers to sell stock. Both Tamworth and Dubbo saleyards achieved record yardings, with 7,553 head and 11,200 head yarded respectively. The total national cattle yarding reached 106,218 head – the highest yarding in 2026 and just 28 head below 2025’s largest weekly yarding.

The Feeder Heifer Indicator was the only indicator to lift this week, reaching 407.5¢/kg liveweight (lwt) (+4%). The Feeder Steer Indicator remained stable at 456¢/kg lwt.

The Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator fell 1.8% to 446¢/kg lwt. Roma formed 25% of the total contribution to the category, reaching 477¢/kg lwt, while Wagga made up 7.2% of the contribution and reached 490¢/kg lwt.

Sheep market

The national lamb yarding lifted to 227,305 head (+53%) and the mutton yarding (+79%) to 80,899 head, with the Monday public holiday last week impacting numbers. The indicators were mixed, with Heavy, Light and Restocker Lamb indicators easing, Merino Lamb and Mutton indicators lifting and Trade Lamb Indicator holding steady.

The Mutton Indicator has continued to push further, breaking another weekly record, reaching 831¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) across an offering of 55,653 head. The indicator has lifted by 91% from the same time 12 months ago, with a tightening supply and strong competition among processors being key factors.

The Restocker Lamb Indicator fell by 1.6% over the week to 1,220¢/kg cwt across an offering of 46,840 head. The yarding at Yass made up 7% of the offering and achieved 1,411¢/kg cwt, 15.7% above the national aggregate.

Slaughter

Week ending 10 April 2026

Cattle

Cattle slaughter remained stable week-on-week (WoW) at 130,568 head, just 110 head more than the previous week.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 15% to 32,224 head
Queensland: down 14% to 66,443 head
SA: down 38% to 2,362 head
Tasmania: down 20% at 3,995 head
Victoria: down 12% at 22,367 head
WA: up 22% at 3,177 head.

Sheepmeat

National lamb slaughter lifted 1.7% WoW to 357,238 head (-32.2% YoY). National mutton slaughter fell 24.6% to 88,225 head (-55.35% YoY).

State-by-state lamb slaughter YoY:

NSW: down 25% to 98,483 head
Queensland: down 24% to 1,112 head
SA: down 41% to 36,555 head
Tasmania: down 46% to 6,215 head
Victoria: down 37% to 165,015 head
WA: down 15% to 49,858 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 17 April 2026

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