Weekly cattle and sheep market wrap

Eastern Young Cattle Indicator

• This week, the EYCI continued to bounce around, falling below 1,100c and rising again to finish on Wednesday evening at 1,106c/kg cwt to remain firm on week-ago levels.
• The continued heightened demand from Queensland restockers, which has been discussed in detail recently, is contributing heavily to the sharp increases for the indicator on the days these saleyards operate.
• In the coming weeks, as saleyards wind down for the year and throughput declines, the indicator is expected to soften.

Victoria spring flush

• As has been previously mentioned, the expectation that the spring flush will be slower than in previous years has continued to eventuate. However, in the past week of sales, Victorian new season lamb yardings have lifted considerably.
• Highlights this week from the Victorian yards were:
  • Hamilton, in Victoria’s western districts, yarded 69,138 lambs over two sale days on Monday and Wednesday.
  • CVLX Ballarat yarded 40,577 lambs on Tuesday.
• Yardings for the remainder of the 2021 selling season can be expected to remain strong as a large spring flush of lambs are delivered to market, overflowing into early 2022.

Feeder buyers bullish

• The National Feeder Steer Indicator rose 8c overnight, hitting a new record of 562c/kg lwt on Wednesday. The dominant force behind this is the Queensland market, with its indicator hitting 578c, lifting 20c/kg lwt in a day, supported by a large yarding of 1,003 head from Blackall on Wednesday.
• With a wet harvest causing significant grading issues for croppers across the eastern seaboard, lot feeders have renewed confidence in a forecast plentiful supply of feed grains, ensuring margins can be lifted with cheaper grain available.