Key points:
- The Australia Day public holiday and hot east coast conditions impacted yardings across species.
- The heavy lamb premium over trade lambs has dipped to its lowest level in months.
- As finished lambs continue to hit the market post-spring, demand from processors remains strong.
Cattle market
Hot conditions across the east coast paired with the long weekend have heavily impacted cattle saleyards, with yardings down 47% to 45,468 head.
Dry conditions across south-west NSW, SA and Victoria have affected the quality of cattle offered, impacting prices. Demand for restocker steers dipped significantly as prices eased 27¢ to 367¢/kg liveweight (lwt). This shortens the steer to heifer premium to just 70¢, with the restocker heifer indicator easing to 296¢/kg lwt.
Across the board, prices are in line with 2024, with each indicator in the range of where they were in the same week of the previous year. The restocker indicators are the only indicators to sit below year-on-year level, indicating a shift in confidence.
Sheep market
The sheep market faced no sudden shifts this week, following the trend experienced throughout January, where the market seemed to recorrect after last year's highs. Yardings eased again, down 23% to 148,073 for lambs and down 42% for 62,110 sheep, due to the Australia Day long weekend.
The Restocker Lamb Indicator was the only one to see a positive turn, up 5¢ to 705¢/kg carcase weight, likely driven by a significant drop in available stock for trading. As we come to the second half of the lamb sale season, producers have traded available stock and are focusing on finishing to reach weights.
The quality in saleyards over the week was strong, with some markets indicating a lesser tail offering. However, the lack of certain export buyers reduced demand for heavy lambs, dropping the indicator price by 18¢/kg cwt, which has brought the Heavy Lamb (791¢/kg cwt) and Trade Lamb (781¢/kg cwt) prices within 10¢ of each other for the first time in months.
Slaughter
Week ending 24 January 2024
Demand for processor-ready livestock has remained firm throughout the four weeks for all species.
Cattle slaughter lifted 6% week-on-week for a national slaughter figure of 140,908 head. Most states remained level week-on-week, between 4% of the previous week's numbers; however, a processor coming back online in Queensland after a season break has lifted the state's figures 15% on the week.
The first four weeks of 2025 are tracking 8% above the same time in 2024, which could indicate supply hitting the market earlier due to seasonal constraints.
Lamb slaughter has continued to grow steadily over the past few weeks, totalling 498,011 head, which is in the top 10 lamb processing weeks on record for the NLRS. Supply has shifted further from spring, as we expect more lambs to hit the market later than the average would suggest.
Mutton slaughter has remained elevated week-on-week at 215,926 head. Despite being below the peak recorded at the end of 2024, numbers are well above where sheep processing was at the same time last year.
Processor capacity remains firm, with 713,937 head slaughtered last week. This made last week the fourth-largest week for sheepmeat processing, with three preceding records in the past quarter.
Attribute content to: Erin Lukey, MLA Senior Market Information Analyst
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