There have been 2.51 million sheep slaughtered within the March to June interval in Australia, which was 9% under the identical interval final 12 months, and 17% decrease than the earlier three months. However whereas it was the bottom quarterly sheep kill for the reason that September quarter in 2023, it was nonetheless traditionally excessive, at greater than 40% above each the five-year and ten-year averages. It introduced the primary half sheep slaughter pretty in step with final 12 months’s numbers at 5.5 million head, with solely 43,000 fewer sheep processed this January by June than the identical months in 2024. Comparatively, the five-year first-half common is 3.8 million.
The newest ABS figures will likely be taken into consideration by Meat & Livestock Australia when placing collectively their new sheep trade projections this month, however the final iteration, launched in March, had complete sheep slaughter falling by 2 million head 12 months on 12 months in 2025. If appropriate, this is able to imply the second half slaughter could be 1.3 million head decrease than the primary half, a drop of 23%. The five-year common has second-half sheep slaughter at 7% above first-half slaughter, with the December quarter traditionally recording the very best numbers for the 12 months.
Taking a look at present weekly figures from the Nationwide Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS), to this point this quarter, sheep slaughter is averaging 14% decrease than final 12 months. The weekly common slaughter from NLRS figures for July and August was 46% decrease than the typical weekly slaughter for the primary half of the 12 months. This isn’t uncommon, with winter traditionally having a a lot decrease slaughter fee as provide eases and processing vegetation take scheduled slowdowns or stops. Weekly figures are nonetheless sitting about 20% above the five-year common.
