Weekly cattle and sheep wrap

08 Aug 2025

Key points

Competition between northern and southern processors continues to drive cattle prices.
All mutton and lamb indicators fetched records this week.
Cattle slaughter remains above 2024 year-to-date (YTD) figures while sheepmeat slaughter sees continued instability due to shutdowns.

Cattle market

The national cattle market was mixed but the supply of cattle remained firm. Yardings lifted 16% to 59,390 head, up across all states bar WA, which more than halved.

Most indicators lifted between 7−20¢ on the previous week as competition between northern and southern processor continues to drive price. All non-cow indicators reached their highest prices since the 2022−2023 summer. The Processor and Dairy Cow indicators reduced – correcting 2−3% for 360¢/kg liveweight (lwt) and 344¢/kg lwt, respectively. However, their averages remain very high.

A southern confidence boost saw increased competition between feeder and restocker heifer buyers. The Feeder Heifer Indicator lifted 7¢ to 398¢/kg lwt and the Restocker Heifer Indicator rose 20¢ to 394¢/kg lwt.

Sheep market

The lamb market had a bumper week with all lamb indicators hitting their highest on record prices, alongside a record lamb price at Dubbo of $477/head.

Supply and price of sheep and lambs through yards lifted following last week’s market strength. Lamb yardings increased 16% to 174,971 head, and mutton yardings lifted 27% to 81,969. Dubbo, Forbes and Wagga saw their first solid lines of new season lambs – increasing competition for trade and heavy weights.

Trade and heavy lambs both rose above 1,200¢/kg carcase weight (cwt). The National Heavy Lamb Indicator lifted 65¢ to 1,247¢/kg cwt with Carcoar seeing the highest average price at 1,319¢/kg cwt. The Trade Lamb Indicator rose 43¢ to 1,224¢/kg cwt with the firmest price in Forbes at an average 1,270¢/kg cwt.

After some significant rain across southern states and the introduction of new season lambs on offer, the restocker market saw a confidence-based lift. The National Restocker Lamb Indicator increased 109¢ to 1,063¢/kg cwt.

Slaughter

Week ending 1 August 2025

Cattle

Cattle slaughter eased 5% to 150,496 head – the smallest throughput in eight weeks but it remained 8% above the 2025 weekly average. YTD the sector is tracking 10% above 2024 figures. All eastern states eased in throughput, while WA saw a significant lift, up 28% to 3,330 head.

State-by-state breakdown of cattle slaughter:

NSW down 3% to 36,248
QLD down 7% to 76,728
SA down 1% to 3,812
TAS stable at 4,741
VIC down 6% to 25,637
WA up 28% to 3,330.

Sheepmeat

As plants continue maintenance shutdowns, national sheep and lamb slaughter remains unstable week-on-week, providing an uncertain supply indication.

National lamb slaughter reduced 3% as a WA processor paused production, bringing national slaughter to 357,832. This is one of the smallest throughput weeks since 2023 and sits 20% below the 2025 weekly average. Return to regular operation in a SA plant lifted the state's slaughter 27% which tempered national declines.

Sheep slaughter lifted 6% with the return of plants, brining national throughput to 137,340 – back in line with June figures.

State-by-state breakdown of lamb slaughter:

NSW up 1% to 109,436
QLD up 2% to 1,343
SA up 27% to 34,032
TAS up 1% to 5,327
VIC down 3% to 180,041
WA down 37% to 27,653.

Attribute to: Erin Lukey, MLA Senior Market Information Analyst

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