Sheep saleyards shunned
The Snapshot
- NSW sheep & lamb saleyard throughput lifted by 6.8% over the last financial year. Queensland also saw an impressive gain of 36.6%, but it was off a very low base.
- All other states saw throughput level decline with WA and Tasmania leading the pack lower, recording annual falls of 29.7% and 30.0%, apiece.
- Meanwhile, Victoria and SA posted more moderate declines of 8.7% and 5.9%, respectively.
The Detail
Last month Meat & Livestock Australia released the financial year summary of sheep & lamb saleyard throughput. Nationally there were just two states that registered an increase to yarding levels, NSW and Queensland. The latter saw a big percentage jump of 36.6%, but it is off of a pretty low base with Queensland representing just 0.6% of the national sheep & lamb throughput in 2022/23.
NSW throughput lifted by 6.8% over the last financial year, from 6,685,670 head to 7,139,501 head. All other states saw throughput level decline with WA and Tasmania leading the pack lower, recording annual falls of 29.7% and 30.0%, apiece. Meanwhile, Victoria and SA posted more moderate declines of 8.7% and 5.9%, respectively.
In terms of national market share, the NSW saleyards dominated the yarding volumes representing nearly 56% of the national throughput for 2022/23. Victoria backed up in second spot on nearly 31% of the national tally.
A focus on NSW top 10 saleyards saw Wagga Wagga retain number one spot for both state and national calculations. The Wagga Wagga saleyard represented 29.8% of total NSW saleyard yardings of sheep & lamb and on a national level it accounted for 16.6% of total yardings. Wagga Wagga saw a 6.0% lift in sheep & lamb throughput over the 2022/23 season, but the biggest annual gains seen in the top 10 NSW saleyards were reserved for Tamworth and Dubbo, which increased by 31.7% an 23.7%, respectively. Corowa, Carcoar and Deniliquin were the only top 10 yards to post declines in throughput over the last financial year, with falls of 1.3%, 4.3% and 4.2% recorded.
There was limited movement in the market share of the top 10 Victorian saleyards with Ballarat continuing to hold pole position and 36.6% of the state’s total sheep and lamb throughput, despite a 9.0% reduction in yarding over the 2022/23 season. Ballarat saw yarding volumes slip from 1,562,896 head to 1,422,487 head over the last financial year. Most of the top 10 Victorian saleyards posted declines in annual yarding levels with Hamilton, Ouyen and Bairnsdale recording falls into the double digits of 13.1%, 10.4% and 15.4%, respectively. Horsham was one of the few top 10 Victorian saleyards to register a gain in throughput of 5.7%.
