Market Morsel: Yarding slump

Market Morsel

Wet conditions and softer pricing have seen cattle and sheep producers shun the saleyards across the eastern states last week (week ending 8/7/22). East coast cattle yarding slipped 47% over the week to see just 23,293 head presented. This is the lowest weekly cattle yarding since the Easter break. Saleyards in Queensland saw numbers shrink 66% from 23,334 head the week prior to just 7,873 yarded last week. NSW saw a drop of 38% in cattle yardings over the week from 13,882 head to 8,584 recorded last week, meanwhile Victorian saleyards noted a marginal 2% gain to 5,539 head of cattle presented.

East coast lamb and sheep yarding mirrored the decline seen in cattle volumes, with lamb yardings down by 17% and sheep volumes off by 43%. East coast sheep yardings slumped to just 25,915 head for the week ending 8th July, which is lower volumes presented than during the Easter holiday period. Current east coast sheep yarding levels are running 45% under the five-year average for this week in the season. Meanwhile, east coast lamb yardings are running 10% under the five-year average for this week in the year at 127,067 head.