Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

27 Mar 2026

Key points

All cattle indicators fell across a smaller yarding.
One pen of lambs in Ballarat made $500/head – a national record.
Cattle slaughter reached its highest level since June 2019.

Limited rainfall for northern NSW and southern Queensland is beginning to test producers as cattle continue to move north. All sheep indicators lifted – except for the light lamb indicator – across a tighter yarding. Processors continue operating at high capacity, with cattle slaughter reaching its highest level since June 2019.

Cattle market

National cattle yardings fell to 91,520 head (-3.2%) after a strong yarding the previous week. Despite the reduced yarding, prices fell across all indicators, signaling a quieter period for the trade.

The Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator fell by 1% to 493¢/kg liveweight (lwt) across a larger offering of 8,755 head. Roma made up 24% of the total offering and achieved a premium of 508¢/kg lwt. The Roma report noted that a large part of the yard was drawn from NSW and south-west Queensland. Stock movements from NSW to Queensland look likely to continue as dry conditions persist in northern NSW.

The Processor Cow Indicator had the largest price fluctuation, down 7% to 348¢/kg lwt, despite a 9.3% drop in the yarding offered. Processor cows sold out of Victorian saleyards received significantly better prices at 384¢/kg lwt.

Sheep market

The sheep market continued to be strong, with most indicators maintaining an upward trend since the beginning of the year. All indicators lifted between 7−30¢ except for the Light Lamb Indicator, which dropped 20¢ (2%). Market reports pointed to good quality and intense buyer competition being responsible for the lifts.

Yardings dropped 2% to 273,650, driven by a decline of 10,000 head of mutton, or 12% compared to last week. This has continued the decline in supply since the beginning of the year. Lamb lifted marginally by 1% to 201,693 head.

The Restocker Lamb Indicator had the largest lift of 2.5%, totaling 1,208¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). Trade lambs lifted 21¢ to 1,175¢/kg cwt and heavy lambs increased 11¢ to 1,118¢/kg cwt.

Ballarat achieved a new record, registering the sale of a pen of heavy Poll Dorset cross lambs with a liveweight of 83–109kg for an incredible $500/head, claiming the new national record price for a pen of lambs.

Slaughter

Week ending 21 March 2026

Cattle slaughter

Despite significant global concerns about fuel supply and price volatility, national cattle slaughter rose to its highest mark since June 2019 at 159,113 head, up 7% year-on-year (YoY). All states experienced increases in throughput.

State-by-state cattle slaughter YoY:

NSW: up 3.5% to 37,953
Queensland: up 5.3% to 81,892
SA: up 1.3% to 3,881
Tasmania: up 2.3% to 5,198
Victoria: up 14.5% to 26,515
WA: up 46.5% to 3,674.

Sheepmeat

National lamb slaughter lifted 5.6% WoW to 421,650 head, however, YoY fell by 17.5%. National mutton slaughter lifted 6.5% WoW but is was down YoY by 38.4%.

State-by-state lamb slaughter YoY:

NSW: down 7.8% to 116,031
Queensland: down 10% to 1,236
SA: down 17.5% to 46,759
Tasmania: down 49.2% to 5,174
Victoria: down 26.4% to 194,768
WA: up 10.3% to 57,682.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 27 March 2026

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