Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

30 Oct 2026

Key points

Rainfall continued across large parts of the country, encouraging producers to retain stock.
The Processor Cow Indicator continued to set new records.
Cattle slaughter declined, led by reduced stock access and availability for Queensland processors.

Rainfall continued across large parts of the country, with every state recording falls. Rain was lighter and more scattered across central and western NSW and south-west WA.

The market response was similar to last week with rainfall encouraging producers to retain stock. Smaller cattle and lamb yardings tightened supply and drove indicators higher.

Cattle market

The national cattle yarding declined 8% week-on-week to 52,233 head as producers continued to receive significant rainfall, which boosted feedbases and encouraged stock retention.

All cattle indicators lifted over the week with gains ranging from 1% for the Feeder Heifer Indicator to 5% for the Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator. Queensland yardings have fallen significantly over the last month from 116,873 head in September to 62,933 head in October.

The Processor Cow Indicator moved further into record territory reaching 407¢/kg liveweight (lwt). Roma Saleyards accounted for 10% of cattle contributing to the indicator with the market report noting excellent quality across the prime cow offering.

The Feeder Steer Indicator lifted 3.6% over the week to 547¢/kg liveweight, across an offering of 6,559 head. The indicator has lifted 11% over the last month with northern NSW saleyards recording the strongest prices.

The Restocker Yearling Heifer Indicator recorded the strongest monthly increase of any cattle indicator, lifting 20% to 494¢/kg lwt. Tighter supply has been a major factor with 13,945 head contributing to the indicator in October, compared with 19,413 head in September.

Sheep market

The national lamb yarding dropped 8% over the week to 52,233 head, while the sheep yarding remained stable (lifting 0.8%) to 84,746 head. All indicators lifted except for the Merino Lamb Indicator, dropping 0.8% to 1,089¢/kg carcase weight (cwt).

The Heavy Lamb Indicator lifted 2.6% over the week to 1,159¢/kg cwt across an offering of 23,190 head. Wagga Wagga accounted for 33% of the national offering and averaged 1,175¢/kg cwt. The strongest prices were recorded at Ballarat and Horsham where both markets averaged more than 1,200¢/kg cwt.

The Restocker Lamb Indicator lifted 2% over the week to 1,218¢/kg cwt across an offering of 32,268 head. The indicator has climbed 10% over the past month.

NSW saleyard reports noted mixed quality and condition. Wagga Wagga reported a lack of freshness across a large proportion of its new-season lamb offering, while Yass noted good condition.

Slaughter

Week ending 23 October 2026

Cattle

National cattle slaughter decreased 5% week-on-week to 140,062 head. Queensland processors led the decline with slaughter down 10% week-on-week as rainfall disrupted property access and limited stock availability for processors.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 7% to 33,217 head
Queensland: down 16% to 70,774 head
SA: up 2% to 3,904 head
Tasmania: up 6% to 4,761 head
Victoria: down 11% to 23,570 head
WA: up 6% to 3,836 head.

Sheep

National lamb slaughter decreased 2% week-on-week to 394,978 head, while national sheep slaughter increased 1% to 164,861 head.

State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 6% to 104,820 head
Queensland: down 12% to 1,083 head
SA: down 28% to 33,114 head
Tasmania: up 24% to 8,696 head
Victoria: down 11% to 194,575 head
WA: down 1% to 52,690 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, MLA Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 30 October 2026

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