Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

04 Sep 2026

Key points

Cattle indicators lift across a larger offering.
Excellent condition new season lambs begin entering southern NSW and Victoria markets.
Victorian mutton slaughter lifts sharply.

Cattle and sheep market indicators strengthened across the board this week, despite dry conditions intensifying across eastern Queensland, south-west WA and parts of Tasmania.

Cattle market

The national cattle yarding lifted 11% to 53,816 head, with all cattle indicators posting gains. Increases ranged from 0.6% for the Dairy Cow Indicator to 8% for the Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator.

Larger yardings at Roma and Dalby saleyards contributed to the weekly increase in yardings. The Dalby market report noted that forecast rainfall missed the mark in some areas, which drove numbers to the yard. Southern buyers continued to operate, which maintained the trend in improved prices across all cattle indicators.

The National Young Cattle Indicator (NYCI) lifted 3% to 514¢/kg liveweight (lwt) across an offering of 15,440 head. Despite Queensland yards forming a large part of the contribution, online channels continue to have significance.

Online sales from NSW accounted for 13% of the NYCI offering, while Queensland online sales made up a further 10%. The strongest prices continued to be achieved at NSW saleyards with Yass (83 head), Wagga Wagga (434 head) and Tamworth (241 head) all averaging above 570¢/kg lwt across limited numbers.

Sheep market

The national lamb yarding lifted 9% week-on-week to 128,513 with reports noting increased numbers of new season lambs beginning to appear in saleyards. In contrast, the national sheep yarding fell 16% across the week to 42,604 head.

Despite mixed supply trends, all sheep and lamb indicators lifted across the week, ranging from 1% for the Heavy Lamb Indicator to 13% for the Restocker Lamb Indicator.

The Restocker Lamb Indicator lifted 13% to 1,177¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) across an offering of 11,500 head, up 19% from the previous week. As noted last week, the Katanning market had a significant influence on the indicator’s movement.

Restocker lambs at Katanning averaged 1,004¢/kg cwt this week, rebounding 51% from 666¢/kg cwt the previous week. A fairer quality in the restocker offering at Katanning was noted last week along with some absent buyers, which marked the sharp decline.

The Mutton Indicator lifted 2% to reach 874¢/kg cwt. While still below its July 2026 peak of 916¢/kg cwt, the indicator remains 22.5% above year-ago levels, making it the strongest-performing indicator over that period. The next best performer was the Merino Lamb Indicator, which lifted 6% above its level a year ago.

Slaughter

Week ending 4 September 2026

Cattle

National cattle slaughter numbers decreased 3% week-on-week to 146,129 head. All states recorded lower processing numbers except WA, which lifted 11% to 3,866 head.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 7% to 32,841 head
Queensland: up 4% to 78,389 head
SA: down 1% to 3,841 head
Tasmania: up 1% to 3,842 head
Victoria: down 11% to 23,368 head
WA: up 3% to 3,866 head.

Sheep

National lamb slaughter decreased 6% WoW to 347,168 head, while mutton slaughter lifted 19% to 132,451 head.

State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):

NSW: up 20% to 119,019 head
Queensland: down 22% to 1,028 head
SA: down 12% to 36,462 head
Tasmania: up 43% to 7,786 head
Victoria: down 18% to 135,440 head
WA: up 21% to 47,433 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, MLA Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 4 September 2026

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