Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

17 Jul 2026

Key points

The Online Young Cattle Indicator showed strength this week as Southern buyers continue looking north.

Most sheep indicators dropped following a larger yarding and reduced processor demand.

This week was the lowest non-public holiday-affected national mutton slaughter since 2020.

Cattle market

The national cattle yarding increased by 2% to 69,626 head. Indicators were mixed across all categories, with some markets recording gains and others reflecting falls. The Restocker Yearling Steer had the lowest change week-on-week (WoW), dropping 27¢ to 534¢/kg liveweight (lwt).

The Online Young Cattle Indicator (OYCI) continued to rise this week as southern buyers continue to look north. The OYCI averaged 555¢/kg lwt across an offering of 8,070 head. This falls just behind the average weekly record for 2026 set in mid-June. Sales were skewed towards Queensland, with 27% of cattle being sold in South-east Queensland.

The National Heavy Steer Indicator averaged 454¢/kg lwt over an offering of 1,209 head. Roma contributed the largest share of sales (12%), followed by Dalby (9%) and Blackall (9%). Total yardings eased 10% month-on month (MoM) but remained 85% higher year-on-year (YoY), underpinned by strong export demand.

Sheep market

Most sheep indicators dropped following a larger yarding and reduced processor demand. The national total yarding increased to 176,903 head, with both lamb and sheep yarding increasing by 18% and 27% respectively. Heavy weight lambs set a sale yard record of $418/head at Katanning.

The Trade Lamb Indicator significantly dropped by 37¢ from last week, with the current price at 1,212¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) and an overall head count of 24,820. Supply was strong from NSW, accounting for 68%, followed by Victoria, supplying 23% of the total head.

The National Restocker Lamb Indicator increased 26¢ to 1,216¢/kg cwt this week, with total throughput reaching 18,171 head. Wagga was the largest contributor, accounting for 29% of the weekly supply with 5,222 head yarded. Lambs sold through Wagga achieved an average price of 1,304¢/kg cwt, the second highest average price recorded across all saleyards for the week.

Slaughter:

Week ending 10 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 increased by 1% WoW to 146,985, with five states’ slaughter levels increasing. Queensland had the largest increase of 1% to 76,556 head. NSW and WA slaughter levels dropped, with year-to-date numbers sitting at 4,104,271 head.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY%):

NSW: down 10% to 32,959 head

Queensland: down 5% to 76,556 head

SA: up 2% to 3,920 head

Tasmania: down 2% to 4,773 head

Victoria: down 6% to 25,017 head

WA: up 51% to 3,760 head.

Sheepmeat

National lamb and mutton slaughter continued to drop this week, with tighter supply and several facilities remaining closed for winter maintenance periods.

This week reflected the lowest non-public holiday national slaughter since 2020. National lamb slaughter dropped WoW to 335,068 head, with a slight increase in supply in Tasmania and Victoria. The largest weekly increase at 44% WoW was mutton in Victoria to 16,959 head.

State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY%):

NSW: down 9% to 87,587 head

Queensland: down 25% to 996 head

SA: down 22% to 21,429 head

Tasmania: down 19% to 5,173 head

Victoria: down 1% to 185,542 head

WA: down 19% to 34,341 head.

Attribute content to: Natalie Bowles, MLA Global Supply Analyst.

Information is correct at time of publication on 17 July 2026.

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