Australian Cattle and Sheep Market Update – Late August 2025

The Australian livestock sector closed August with mixed signals across cattle and sheep markets. National yardings eased slightly, while slaughter volumes remained robust, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia.

Cattle prices strengthened across all indicators, rising between 2¢ and 13¢/kg liveweight. National yardings fell 3% to 56,148 head, largely due to anticipated rainfall in southern states. Notably, NSW and Victoria saw significant declines of 16% and 29% respectively.

The Processor Cow Indicator jumped 13% to 368¢/kg lwt, driven by firm demand despite a drop in yardings. Queensland remained dominant, accounting for half of national yardings and pushing its indicator to 357¢/kg lwt — just shy of the record.

The Restocker Steer Indicator rose 11¢ to 487¢/kg lwt, with Queensland prices surging 16% on the back of favourable seasonal conditions and strong restocker confidence.

Sheep yardings eased across all categories, with lamb numbers down by over 36,000 head. The Heavy Lamb Indicator dropped 27¢ to 1,129¢/kg carcase weight, although Western Australia bucked the trend with a 95¢ lift.

Restocker lambs saw strong demand in NSW, where prices soared 130¢ to 1,194¢/kg cwt. The National Restocker Lamb Indicator rose 62¢ to 1,088¢/kg cwt, supported by the return of new season lambs and active lot feeders across key saleyards.

Cattle slaughter rose 4% nationally to 152,381 head, led by an 8% increase in Queensland. Sheepmeat throughput climbed 7% to 512,950 head — the highest since June — with lamb slaughter up 9%, driven by plant reopenings in SA and WA.