WITH only a fortnight left in the 2024-25 financial year, tax considerations are coming into play for some cattle producers, with some electing to push slaughter cattle back until after June 30 on accountants’ advice.

The same thing happens every year, but the impact is amplified in years like this when kill space becomes tight in some areas.

For example, some Queensland processors are currently booked solid with direct consignment cattle for the first week or two in July, but still have an occasional slot available in late June.

While forward bookings now look a little less congested than they did two or three weeks ago, many northern processors are still amply covered for the next three weeks, with only a few more immediate spaces left for some saleyards cattle.

The shortage of heavier killable cattle in the south is now clearly apparent, with five or six larger Victorian, South Australian and southern NSW operators now active in the Queensland and Central Australian markets. Most of the purchasing appears to be out of the paddock, including some sales over the scales at northern tick-free centres like Morven.

Kill likely to ease

Statistics for the national slaughter for the week ended Friday are yet to be released (they will be added here later) but its inevitable that the most recent weekly cycle will be sharply down. All states bar Queensland and Western Australia had a national King’s Birthday holiday on Monday last week, effectively taking around 20pc off kills in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

We’d expect a fall of about 14,000 in last week’s national kill figure, taking the number back from +152,000 to about 138,000 head. Some southern processors also have annual maintenance breaks scheduled in coming weeks, which will cap throughput for a week or two.

Grid offers steady

There’s been little change in direct consignment grid prices across Eastern Australia since last week.

Following 10-20c rises a week earlier, export processors in the southern regions of Queensland have over-the-hooks offers today with four-tooth grass ox on 620-630c/kg, up 10c, and heavy cows 550-560c/kg, up 10-20c.

Central Queensland plants, still more heavily congested with bookings, have not yet followed suit. Processors in the CQ region are still 520-530c/kg on heavy cows and 600-610c/kg on four-tooth heavy steer.

In southern states, most processor offers are steady on last week. Parts of southern NSW still have plenty of cattle already on the books, including some no-quotes. In eastern parts of South Australia, grids this week are unchanged on last week, showing 610c on heavy cows and 690c on four-tooth grass ox. A southern NSW specialist cow processor this week has heavy cows +300kg on 600c/kg and 590c on lighter cows +275kg. Both are for delivery week commencing 30 June.

Female slaughter ratio

One area where the trend in southern buying out of the north is strongly evident is in female slaughter ratio (percentage of females in overall slaughter numbers). Nationally, any number above 47pc is deemed herd liquidation, while a number below suggests herd rebuilding.

However the ratios vary wildly, from state to state.

Queensland trends towards the bottom end of the scale, because of the heavy inflows of Angus and other feeder steers from southern states for grainfed programs in the dominant lotfeeding state. Last week’s Queensland female slaughter ratio was 36.3pc.

In Victoria, current heavy inflows of cull cows from regions further north (Qld, northern NSW, central Australia), and a proportionately higher domestic weight kill including heifers is pushing the FSR much higher. Last week, the Victorian figure was 69.42pc, and the two weeks before that, 75pc and 73pc.

NSW falls somewhere between the two, with the past three weeks recording FSRs of 57, 60 and 59pc.

Saleyards trends

Rainfall in the past week in parts of southern NSW and Victoria has had some affect on saleyards numbers.

Wodonga sale this morning yard just 800 head, following recent rainfall. The sale featured a notable presence of grain-assisted yearlings and cows, which drew significant interest from buyers. However, not all exporters participated in the sale, and many feedlot or restocking orders were absent. Despite these factors, competition remained robust for all well-finished stock, along with secondary types that were well-bred. For feeder steers, prices were recorded between 370-430c/kg, while the heifer portion ranged from 340-377c/kg.  On the export front, well-bred steers 500-600kg were primarily purchased by feedlots, with prices ranging from 386-451c/kg. Heavy steers destined for processors sold from 365-405c/kg. Bullocks were less plentiful, achieving prices from 357-382c/kg. In the cow sale, grain-assisted cows attracted intense bidding, topping at 351c/kg and averaging 340c/kg. Leaner cows, on the other hand, sold at more modest prices, ranging from 236-286c/kg.

This morning’s Roma sale yarded 8232 head, up about 500 on last week. The market solid to slightly dearer with finished bullocks well sought-after. At the time of this interim report yearling steers 330- 400kg could not maintain the levels of last sale to average 380c/kg. Yearling steers 400-480kg averaged 371c.  Yearling steers +480kg topped 388c/kg. Grown steers 500-600kg sold similar to last week and made to 386c/kg to processors. Bullocks +600kg making to 383c/kg.