Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

19 Sep 2025

Key points

Processor cow prices hit a record high, with strong demand for heavy and leaner cows.
Lamb indicators strengthened, with heavy and light lamb prices rising on the back of tighter yardings.
National cattle slaughter eased, while sheep and lamb throughput rose slightly but remains well below year ago levels.

Cattle market

The cattle market remained robust with prices lifting across all indicators. Yardings eased by 5,334 to 68,607 head. NSW yardings lifted by 654 head but Queensland significantly declined by 8,423 head.

The Processor Cow Indicator lifted 20¢ to 392¢/kg liveweight (lwt), marking the highest price on record, beating the previous peak set in 2022. Prices rose across all states with firm demand for heavy cows. Leaner cows under 520kg saw a strong price lift at Wagga.

The Feeder Steer Indicator eased 1¢ to 478¢/kg lwt, with interest in secondary cattle dominating sales. Lot feeders continue to influence market dynamics with prices lifting in NSW and Queensland.

Sheep market

The sheep market remained generally strong, largely driven by significant competition and varied pricing. Combined sheep and lamb yardings eased by 9,296 to 244,648 head. NSW yardings eased by 3,002 while Victorian yardings saw an 11,403 head increase.

The Heavy Lamb Indicator lifted 35¢ to 1,192¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). Prices increased in most states, likely due to yardings easing by 3,026 head. Wagga, however, saw a notable increase in new season lambs with weight improvements.

The Light Lamb Indicator lifted 63¢ to 1, 094¢/kg cwt. While quality has been mixed, at Forbes prices lifted 110¢, contributing 26% of the Light Lamb Indicator increase. At Dubbo, light lambs sold to processors at $165−$200/head − $5 higher than last week.

Slaughter

Week ending 12 September 2025

Cattle slaughter

National cattle slaughter eased 2% week-on-week (WoW) to 148,432 head but volumes remain 5.7% higher year-on-year (YoY). The decline was led by NSW (-7%) and Queensland (-3%), while other states showed mixed results. WA (+3%), SA (+3%), Victoria (+1%) and Tasmania (+2%) all posted modest gains.

State-by-state breakdown of cattle slaughter:

NSW: down 7% to 32,852
Queensland: down 3% to 79,177
SA: up 3% to 3,877
Tasmania: up 2% to 4,044
Victoria: up 1% to 24,739
WA: up 3% to 3,743

Combined sheep and lamb slaughter

National sheep and lamb throughput totalled 292,633 head − comprised of 145,087 lambs and 147,546 sheep. Despite the week’s lift, YoY volumes remain significantly lower, particularly in NSW (-13.74%) and SA (-22.23%).

Lamb slaughter rose 1.4% WoW, led by:

NSW: up 1.4% to 102,032
SA: up 1.6% to 40,704
Queensland: down 3.7% to 1,351

Sheep slaughter increased across most states with NSW leading at 56,050 head. This is a 12% WoW increase but still 34.4% below YoY figures. Victoria followed with an increase of 52,695 head and WA processed 25,393 head. SA, Tasmania, and Queensland contributed smaller volumes.

Attribute content to Emily Tan MLA Market Information Analyst.

Information is correct at time of publishing on 19 September 2025.

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