THERE’S been plenty of attention in the past few weeks on the lamb market in this column, so it’s time we took a look at the cattle side.
Cattle prices continue to struggle overall, and the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator is now more than 100c/kg lower than it was at this time last year.
Early this week the EYCI was on 452.75c/kg, while The Land’s cow indicator (calculated by the National Livestock Reporting Service) was on 171c/kg.
NAB Agribusiness economist, Phin Ziebell, said poor feed and water availability continues to dent restocker interest, and while demand for finished cattle has been fairly healthy this year, even this looks to be under some pressure.
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Meat and Livestock Australia have indicated the female share of slaughter has now ticked up to drought levels, standing at 53.7 per cent in June – the highest since July 2014.
A quick browse of the NLRS saleyard market reports in recent weeks suggest when August’s slaughter trend is tallied up the per cent of females could be even higher.
NAB has forecast the EYCI to be in the high–400s (c/kg) to low–500s range for the coming year, although tough seasonal conditions are a challenge to this forecast.
“If the drought rolls on, prices could fall further – especially if a shortage of water and feed force more destocking,” Mr Ziebell said.
Recognising a top team’s result
CENTRAL Tablelands agency Ray White Emms Mooney picked up some significant gongs at the Ray White Rural and Livestock awards recently.
The team picked up the top property sales for the financial year award and was recognised as the top livestock office.
Ray White Rural Emms Mooney is now home to the top performing individual agent Sam D’Arcy. Only two years ago Mr D’Arcy was starting his career in sales and was then announced as the Rookie of the Year.
Mr D’Arcy colleague Harry Larnach was credited as the top Ray White livestock assessor in the company by AuctionsPlus.
Congratulations to the whole team at Ray White Emms Mooney!