Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap
Key points
- Scattered rainfall across the country boosted both cattle and lamb restocker markets this week.
- Cattle and sheep yardings were heavily reduced with public holidays disrupting several sales.
- Cattle, lamb and mutton slaughter increased as some states returned to full processing weeks following public holidays.
The October long weekend contributed to reduced cattle, lamb and sheep yardings this week.
Cattle sales at Forbes and Wagga Wagga were cancelled with Tamworth rescheduled for 9 October. Sheep sales at Dubbo and Corowa yards were also cancelled.
Rainfall was recorded across much of the country. Victoria and south-eastern NSW received healthy falls, while SA, northern NSW and south-eastern Queensland recorded patchier, but much-needed rain.
The rainfall provided a noticeable lift to cattle and sheep restocker markets, strengthening buyer confidence and demand.
Cattle market
The national cattle yarding fell 24% across the week to 48,110 head. The smaller yarding produced mixed results across cattle indicators.
The Feeder Steer Indicator recorded the largest decline, easing 0.7%, while the Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator posted the strongest gain.
The Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator lifted 2.5% over the week to 519¢/kg liveweight (lwt) despite a much smaller offering of 3,766 head.
The number of cattle contributing to the indicator fell 47% from the previous week, as the public holidays impacted some sales and scattered rainfall across key supply regions encouraged producers to retain stock.
The Feeder Heifer Indicator lifted 1% to 445¢/kg lwt across a smaller offering of 3,955 head with Queensland and NSW making up 40% and 39% of the total offering respectively.
Despite holding relatively steady this week, the indicator remains 6% lower over the past month.
Sheep market
National lamb yardings fell 15.6% over the week to 132,260 head, while sheep yardings declined 14% to 54,024 head, with impacts from the long weekend.
Across the smaller yarding, sheep and lamb indicators rebounded strongly with most indicators rising by 5%.
The National Trade Lamb Indicator lifted 5% to 1,153¢/kg carcase weight (cwt) across an offering of 36,401 head.
Ballarat attracted a significant premium, averaging 1,226¢/kg cwt with the market report noting that supplies of new-season lambs continue to build throughout spring.
The Mutton Indicator recorded the smallest gain, rising 3% week-on-week (WoW) to average 829¢/kg cwt across an offering of 37,865 head.
Forbes saleyard averaged 902¢/kg cwt and accounted for 18% of the national offering.
WA and SA averaged 656¢/kg cwt and 773¢/kg cwt respectively and are the only states where prices remain below year-ago levels.
Slaughter
Week ending 9 October 2026
Cattle
National cattle slaughter numbers increased 2.7% week-on-week (WoW) to 146,566 head.
Victoria and Tasmania saw WoW increases of 15% and 14% respectively with Victoria returning to a full processing week.
Cattle slaughter in WA fell 25% week-on-week with throughput again affected by a state public holiday.
State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):
- NSW: down 5% to 33,254 head
- Queensland: down 2% to 77,096 head
- SA: up 1% to 3,858 head
- Tasmania: up 5% to 4,345 head
- Victoria: up 3% to 24,970 head
- WA: up 1% to 3,043 head.
Sheep
National lamb slaughter increased 6% WoW to 372,398 head, while mutton slaughter increased 1% to 130,715 head.
Public holidays had a similar impact on lamb slaughter. Victoria and Tasmania recorded week-on-week increases of 15% and 5% respectively. WA recorded a 9% drop in lamb slaughter.
State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):
- NSW: up 23% to 83,129 head
- Queensland: down 30% to 964 head
- SA: down 7% to 38,680 head
- Tasmania: up 8% to 8,683 head
- Victoria: up 10% to 195,936 head
- WA: down 1% to 45,006 head.
Attribute content to: Alex Fry, MLA Market Information Analyst
