Feeding growth
December 2024 cattle on feed update
The final quarter cattle on feed report was released last week from the Australian Lot Feeders Association (ALFA) for 2024. The rise in cattle on feed numbers continued over the quarter lifting by nearly 2% to hit a new record of 1.45 million head. Queensland, NSW and Victoria all saw increased numbers on feed with lifts of 1%, 5% and 12%, respectively. But SA and WA had numbers on feed decline by about 7% over the December quarter.
In terms of capacity in feedlots nationally the amount of available space grew by nearly 1% to hit 1.66 million head, which saw the national feedlot utilisation ratio move from 86.7% to 87.5%. Currently Queensland holds to most cattle on feed with a share of 58% followed by NSW on 29%. Meanwhile, Victorian, South Australian and Western Australian feedlots hold about 4-5% apiece.
As the end of year numbers are now in we can compare grain fed slaughter numbers versus grass finished cattle. In 2024 there was 37.8% of cattle that were turned off that were grain finished. In number of head this was 3,140,026 head grain finished versus 5,163,874 head of cattle that were grass finished. The grainfed ratio was slightly up in 2024 from the 37.5% seen in 2023, but still well down on the peak grain fed ratio of 46.9% seen in 2022.
Breaking down the cattle on feed numbers for long fed cattle (mostly Wagyu) there was a big lift in 2024 for cattle on feed for more than 300 days reaching over 300,000 head for the first time on record during 2024. The last time we saw a big lift in these long fed cattle numbers was during the 2018 season when a large lift in F1 Wagyu numbers were noted, leading to a phase of price pressure until the strong supply was worked through.
