Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

25 Jul 2025

Key points

Cattle prices rose for all indicators, with particular interest in cows.
Lamb reached a national record in Forbes at $460/head.
Slaughter eased overall with a sharp drop for sheep.

Cattle

The cattle market was generally positive but cattle yardings eased by 6,087 head.

The Feeder Steer Indicator lifted 7¢ to 426¢/kg liveweight (lwt). Fewer heavy export cattle were presented, driving greater lot-feeder cattle purchases. With short supply of well-finished stock, prices lifted in NSW (+25¢) and Victoria (+11¢).

The Processor Cow Indicator lifted 14¢ to 328¢/kg lwt. Most states saw price rises, including NSW (+24¢) and Victoria (+23¢). Heavy cows were in high demand, with prices ranging from 354¢/kg to 384¢/kg lwt at Wagga. However, there was limited demand for plain-conditioned cows.

Sheep

Sheep saw a mixed market this week. Forbes broke the national lamb record at $460/head, new season lambs sold for $330/head at Dubbo and lamb numbers increased by 17,489 head. However, sheep declined by 2,493 to 286,149 head.

The Trade Lamb Indicator eased 10¢ to 1,185¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). Domestic buyers continue to pay a premium for well-shaped and short-skinned lambs. Victorian (-56¢), WA (-29¢) and NSW (-10¢) prices all eased.

The Mutton Indicator lifted 4¢ to 696¢/kg cwt. Year-on-year (YoY) yardings have halved. Despite sheep demand, quality has been mixed. Ballarat sheep prices trended towards 700¢/kg cwt.

Slaughter

Week ending 18July 2025

Cattle slaughter eased by 1,897 to 153,415 head. It was mainly stable with minor declines in Victoria (-1,302), NSW (-628), Queensland (-177) and SA (-103). However, year-to-date (YTD) slaughter is 9% above 2024 figures.

Sheep and lamb slaughter dropped by 14,604 to 431,411 head, mostly driven by sheep decline - down 16,838 to 67,853 head. Notable reductions occurred mainly in Victoria (-14,143) and NSW (-1,570).

Lamb slaughter lifted by 2,234 to 363,558 head and showed mixed results across the states with increases in NSW (+365), Tasmania (+232), and WA (+2,694) but declines in Queensland (-99), SA (-474), and Victoria (-484).

Attribute content to Emily Tan, MLA Market Information Analyst

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