The swell season

Livestock | 12th November 2022 | By Matt Dalgleish

The Snapshot

  • East coast saleyard throughput lifted 38% for cattle as at 11th November.
  • East coast lamb throughput lifted 58% on the week.
  • Meanwhile, total east coast sheep volumes posted an 88% gain for the week.

The Detail

East coast saleyard throughput lifted 38% for cattle as at 11th November with volumes reaching to nearly 54,000 head, the highest weekly east coast cattle volumes seen so far this year.

Current weekly cattle throughput levels at east coast saleyards sits just 2% below the five-year average trend, which a solid recovery given average weekly volumes over the 2022 season, thus far, have been running 26% under the seasonal average pattern.

Saleyards in Queensland posted a 40% gain for the second week in November with the second highest weekly volumes seen this year at 26,318 head. This represents cattle yarding levels that are 38% above the five-year average pattern for this week in the season in Queensland.

East coast lamb saleyard volumes have taken off too with a 100,000 head jump on the previous week. Lamb throughput lifted 58% on the week (as at 11th November) to see nearly 275,000 head of lamb yarded.

The Victorian spring lamb flush contributing to the swelling of lambs with a 64% increase on the week, to hit 90,671 head. After a slow start to the spring flush current Victorian lamb numbers are pretty much bang on the five-year average trend. Victorian lamb volumes should continue to climb over 100,000 head in the coming weeks.

Not to be outdone, NSW lamb yardings increased a respectable 46% as at the 11th November, bringing their total lamb yardings to a little over 150,000 head for the week.

NSW sheep volumes were also showing impressive gains on the week with a 91% increase on the previous week. A little over 60,000 head of sheep were presented at NSW saleyards and a doubling of Victorian sheep numbers over the week to more than 42,000 head saw total east coast sheep volumes swell to nearly 108,000 head. This represents weekly sheep throughput that is 10% above the five-year average pattern for this week in the year.

Tags

  • Throughput
  • Saleyard
  • Beef
  • Sheep
  • Lamb