Let me down easy

The Detail

East coast cattle yarding levels have softened 10% from the week prior with 47,312 head reported as at 12th February. These volumes are comparable with this time last season, when nearly 45,000 head were presented, but represent levels 14% under the five-year seasonal average trend.

It has been a slow start to the season for east coast cattle throughput with average weekly yardings since the start of the year running nearly 28% under the average seasonal pattern.

A breakdown of the mainland east coast states highlight that Queensland’s cattle producers are doing all the heavy lifting at the moment with the only state to record throughput levels ahead of the five-year trend for this time in the season.

Queensland cattle throughput eased 7% for the week ending 12th February to see 19,686 head yarded. Despite the softening this represents levels that are 24% above the average seasonal trend for this week in the year. Cattle yarding in NSW came off a little harder, recording a 16% drop from the week earlier to see 15,237 head presented at the sale yard. The five-year average yarding levels for this time in the season in NSW sits at nearly 24,000 head so current volumes represent levels that are 36% below trend.

In contrast, Victorian cattle yarding levels lifted marginally to post a 1% gain on the week prior with 9,912 head offered. While the week on week numbers improved the Victorian cattle yarding level remains 16% below the average seasonal pattern.

While east coast cattle yarding have been slow to build up, the same cannot be said for Western Australian sale yards.  Since the start of 2021 WA cattle yardings have been averaging weekly throughput levels of nearly 4,500 head. Compared to the five-year seasonal average pattern cattle throughput has been running 38% ahead of the seasonal trend.

However, during the week ending 12th February volumes took a sharp dive, dropping 52% to sit back nearer to the seasonal average with 2,124 head reported presented.