News

Heading into week 19 of the 2022 slaughter season, the beef industry is still looking for its first national weekly run of more than 100,000 head.
While many had expected killings to be well above six figures nationwide at this stage of the quarter, after a particularly quiet first quarter, continued rains and flooding in eastern states since early April have made processing The operation held the handbrake firmly.
Add to this the challenges faced by the processing plant’s workforce and Covid-19, as well as logistical and shipping issues, including international port closures and container access issues, and the first four months of the year have been particularly challenging.
Going back two years to the end of the drought cycle, weekly kills in May 2020 still averaged over 130,000 heads.The year before that, during droughts, the weekly May death toll typically exceeded 160,000.
Official slaughter figures from the ABS on Friday showed Australian cattle slaughtered at 1.335 million head in the first quarter, down 5.8 per cent from a year earlier.Still, Australian beef production fell by only 2.5% due to heavier cattle (see below).
Most beef processing plants in Queensland missed another day due to supply pressure from last week’s wet weather, with some in the central and northern parts of the state expected to close again this week as the country needs time to dry out.
The good news is that many processors have a sufficient amount of “overstock” slaughter stock to process over the next few weeks.At least one large Queensland operator did not offer direct consignment offers this week, saying it now has bookings covering the week starting June 22.
In South Queensland, the grid seen this morning provided the best offer for heavy grass-fed four-tooth cattle at 775c/kg (780c without HGP, or 770c implanted in one case) and 715 for heavy slaughter cattle -720c/kg.In the southern states, the best heavy cows produced 720c/kg this week, with heavy four-tooth PR bulls producing around 790c – not far off Queensland’s.
While many items were canceled in Queensland last week, many brick-and-mortar items have recovered well this week.This morning’s store sale in Rome offered only 988 heads, albeit twice as many as last week.The number of auctions in Warwick this morning doubled to 988 after last week’s cancellation.
Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released official livestock slaughter and production figures for the first quarter of 2022.
In the three months to March, the average carcass weight reached 324.4kg, which is 10.8kg heavier than the same period last year.
Notably, Queensland cattle averaged 336kg/head in the first quarter of 2022, the highest of any state and 12kg above the national average.Western Australian cattle are the lightest at 293.4kg/head, however, this is still considered a high weight for the state.
Australian cattle slaughter in the first quarter was 1.335 million head, down 5.8 per cent from a year earlier, ABS results show.Still, Australian beef production fell by only 2.5 per cent due to heavier cattle.
As a technical indicator of whether the industry is rebuilding, the sow slaughter rate (FSR) is currently at 41%, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2011.This shows that the national herd is still in a strong rebuilding phase.
Your comment will not appear until reviewed.Contributions that violate our comment policy will not be published.