Australian cattle herd in official destock phase as a result of herd maturation: ABS

The Australian cattle herd is in an official destock with the national female slaughter rate sitting at just over 50 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest quarterly livestock data. The data, analysed by Meat and Livestock Australia, showed 2024’s September quarter had the largest quarterly slaughter since September 2015, at around 2.2 million head. MLA market information manager Stephen Bignell said the destock was caused by the stabilisation of the herd after a protracted multi-year rebuild, and was not a result of weather conditions or depressed prices. “Paddock capacity is high, and so producers are turning off older breeding cows, resulting in the highest cow and heifer slaughter since December 2019,” he said. National cattle slaughter has lifted by 6 per cent compared with the last quarter, and is up 17 per cent compared with 2023’s third quarter. Cattle slaughter rates lifted in all states except Tasmania. “If this trend continues it is expected slaughter will reach MLA’s projection of 8.18 million head (in) calendar year 2024,” Mr Bignell said. The September quarter also had the highest quarterly beef production at more than 690,000t — a 7 per cent lift from the previous quarter and 17 per cent higher than 2023’s third quarter. Cattle carcase weights lifted to more than 308kg nationally. However, these weights are below those recorded in 2021-2023 because of the increase in female and grass-fed animals. Australian cattle producers generated record receipts for the quarter, having received $4.26 billion for slaughter-ready cattle — the highest value on record. LAMB AND MUTTON The quarterly national lamb slaughter of 6.3 million head is 12 per cent lower than the last quarter, and 5 per cent below 2023’s. The last quarter’s production was also down 16 per cent on the previous quarter with more than 177,000 tonnes. “Despite . . . lamb dipping in quarter three, Australia is still on track for record lamb slaughter and production this year,” Mr Bignell said. “For the year to September 2024, we had processed 20,272,000 lambs, which produced 488,566 tonnes of lamb meat. “After an extremely strong second quarter which broke records, lamb production has come back. A delay in production was expected due to conditions currently experienced across southern regions of the country.” National lamb carcase weights eased 4 per cent to just under 24kg. This year’s September quarter has the highest year-to-date production figure for mutton since 2002, with production reaching just over 206,700 tonnes — 16 per cent higher than 2023’s first nine months. Mutton production rose 2 per cent from the previous quarter, and 26 per cent from 2023’s third quarter.