Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

14 Aug 2026

Key points

A reduced cattle yarding brought mixed results across the indicators.

Restocker-focused lines dropped in sheep markets despite rain.

Slaughter lifted across cattle, lamb and sheep as processors resumed operations.

This week delivered rain for much of southern Australia including WA, SA, NSW and Victoria, however soil moisture levels remain low in south-western WA and are below average in northern NSW and large parts of Queensland.

Livestock markets delivered mixed results. Reduced cattle yardings led to varied price movements, while restocker demand softened in sheep markets. Meanwhile, processor activity increased, lifting slaughter rates across cattle, lamb and sheep.

Cattle market

The national cattle yarding dropped 24% over the week to 51,057 head. Results were mixed across the indicators, with processor and export-focused lines declining the most.

Meanwhile, restocker-focused lines lifted, with the Restocker Yearling Steer Indicator recording the highest increase at 1% (471¢/kg liveweight (lwt) across an offering of 3,848 head). However, when removing Queensland – which made up 85% of supply – the indicator averaged 508¢/kg lwt across 578 head. This gives insight into the lack of supply south of Queensland.

The Feeder Steer Indicator dropped 4% to 484¢/kg lwt across 6,627 head offered. Significant price premiums were again found south in NSW, averaging 528¢/kg lwt across 2,984 head, while Queensland averaged 443¢/kg lwt across a similar supply of 2,989 head.

Sheep market

There were mixed results across sheep markets. The Restocker Lamb Indicator dropped 3%, while all other indicators lifted, with Light Lamb Indicator rising the most – a 4% increase to 1,087¢/kg carcase weight (cwt).

The national lamb yarding fell 10% to 121,036 head while the national sheep yarding fell 40% to 36,383 head. The Wagga market report noted that heavy rain in the supply region had a significant impact on sale numbers (approximately 28,900 head, down 11,00 head on the previous week’s sale). This reduced supply and drove a stronger market across all categories.

The Merino Lamb Indicator lifted 4% over the week to 1,082¢/kg cwt across an offering of 17,927 head. About 33% of national supply came from central-west NSW through Forbes and Dubbo, averaging 1,130¢/kg cwt.

The Mutton Indicator remained stable over the week, lifting 0.2% to 819¢/kg cwt across an offering of 23,528 head, with supply spread across the states: NSW at 55%, Victoria at 22% and WA at 18% of supply.

Slaughter

Week ending 7 August 2026

Cattle

National cattle slaughter numbers increased 4.4% week-on-week WoW) to 148,928 head. The increase was driven by NSW lifting 16%, with some processors resuming operations after short maintenance periods.

State-by-state cattle slaughter (YoY):

NSW: down 13% to 32,025 head

Queensland: down 1% to 80,070 head

SA: up 1% to 3,861 head

Tasmania: down 9% to 4,300 head

Victoria: down 5% to 25,060 head

WA: up 12% to 3,612 head.

Sheepmeat

National lamb slaughter increased 5% over the week to 367,655 head, while mutton slaughter lifted 12% to 97,619 head. WA drove most of the gain over the week, lifting 65% for lamb and 27% for sheep as processors resume operations after scheduled maintenance periods.

State-by-state lamb slaughter (YoY):

NSW: up 14% to 122,836

Queensland: down 9% to 1,162 head

SA: up 119%% to 35,624 head

Tasmania: up 32% to 5,971 head

Victoria: down 9% to 158,492 head

WA: up 58% to 43,570 head.

Attribute content to: Alex Fry, MLA Market Information Analyst

Information is correct at time of publication on 14 August 2026.

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