Percent change year-on-year. Source: MLA

TOUGH seasonal conditions scross southern Australia have been borne out in Australia’s latest annual tally of saleyard cattle transactions across the country.

As the above graphic highlights, southern yards recorded dramatic increases in stock sale volumes as dry conditions forced producers to offload stock.

Cattle transactions through Victorian saleyards in the 2023/24 year surged by 26.5%, in New South Wales by 22.3%, in Tasmania by 28.6% and in South Australia 27.6%.

In contrast Queensland saleyard volumes eased by -1.1% and WA by -3.4%.

As the below table shows Roma in Queensland maintained its position as Australia’s largest physical cattle selling centre, with 250, 918 cattle transacted in 2023/24.

However a 69% surge in yardings compared to last year saw Wagga Wagga in NSW transact 195,878 cattle and leapfrog Dalby in Qld (193,763 head) to finish in second position nationally.

Carcoar was another NSW yard to record a substantial percentage increase – 56.5% – to a total of 170,399 cattle transacted in 2023/24, propelling the NSW yard from 11th in the country last year to fifth this year.

Releasing the results of the National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) 2023–2024 Saleyard Survey today, NLRS Operations Manager for MLA, Stephanie Pitt said the survey, reported voluntarily for the financial year, aims to inform industry of saleyard throughput across all states, except the Northern Territory.

“In the 2024 financial year, there were just over 18.5 million transactions made across sheep and cattle, an increase of 2.1 million livestock compared to the previous financial year,” Ms Pitt said.

She said the cyclical nature of the herd and flock rebuilds alongside changing market conditions could be attributed to adjustments in livestock supply via the saleyards as producers choose different sales channels to market their stock.

Click or tap on image to enlarge. Data source: MLA NLRS saleyard surveys 2019-2024.

To view the full report and for more information, please visit NLRS Saleyard Survey.