Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

22 May 2026

Key points

Significant rain across large parts of the country lifted sentiment.
All cattle and sheep indicators, except for Heavy Steer Indicator, lifted.
Yardings declined across cattle, sheep and lamb.

Rain over the week restricted both cattle and sheep yardings as producers decided to hold onto stock, with most market reports noting increased competition among buyers. This resulted in a lift to all indicators for sheep and cattle, except the Heavy Steer Indicator.

Cattle market

Due to rain in large parts of the country, the national cattle yarding fell 8% to 62,414 head. Northern NSW and most of southern Queensland have been facing very dry conditions, but received welcome rain this week, causing producers to hold onto stock. The pullback in supply resulted in all market indicators lifting, except for the Heavy Steer Indicator. Cattle indicators have been on a positive run for the last month, gaining between 7% (Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator) to 18% (Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator).

The Restocker Yearling Heifer had the biggest gain this week, lifting 12% to 402¢/kg liveweight (lwt). Elevated female turn-off through March and April signalled low producer sentiment coming into winter, and with limited supply available, a big boost was the result of the week’s rain.

The Feeder Steer Indicator had a slight increase of 1.5% to 480¢/kg lwt across an offering of 6,039 head. Best prices for the category came from Gunnedah at 522¢/kg lwt, with a limited offering of 138 head.

Sheep market

The national lamb yarding fell 22% to 129,991 head and the national sheep yarding fell 18% to 58,186. Across the limited supply, all indicators lifted, with lightweight lamb and restocker categories achieving the biggest gains.

The Merino Lamb Indicator lifted 10% to 1,086¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) across an offering of 10,421 head. Strong premiums were captured at Forbes, where the category achieved an average of 1,169¢/kg cwt. The indicator has experienced the strongest sustained growth, rising 50% compared to prices a year ago, reflecting the return of wool value.

The Trade Lamb Indicator lifted 4% to 1,174¢/kg cwt across an offering of 22,076 head, with Victorian yards accounting for 35% of the contribution and achieving a premium of 1,190¢/kg cwt.

Slaughter

Week ending 15 May 2026

Cattle

National cattle slaughter lifted 2.2% week-on-week to 159,603 head. The female slaughter rate has remained above 50% for the last two weeks.

State-by-state cattle slaughter year-on-year (YoY):

NSW: up 2% to 37,164
Queensland: up 4% to 81,089 head
SA: up 2% to 3,850 head
Tasmania: down 1% to 5,165 head
Victoria: up 9% to 28,455 head
WA: up 53% to 3,880 head.

Sheepmeat

National lamb slaughter lifted 1% to 403,863 head, while national mutton slaughter fell 16% to 108,374 head.

State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 10% to 120,136 head
Queensland: down 15% to 1,167 head
SA: down 34% to 38,753 head
Tasmania: down 45% to 6,437 head
Victoria: down 24% to 186,846 head
WA: down 9% to 50,524 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, MLA Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 22 May 2026

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