SALEYARD business for sheep across the country has seen significant declines in the past financial year, reflective of the flock rebuild, but cattle has been a mixed story.
NSW cattle transactions were back as restocking dominated but in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, volumes of cattle sold at saleyards lifted, pointing to a slower national herd rebuild.
Meat & Livestock Australia's 2020 saleyards survey, conducted with the support of the Australian Livestock Markets Association, has just been released.
It shows 4.66 million cattle and 14.27 million sheep were transacted through Australia's saleyards during the 2019-20 period.
All states experienced lower sheep yardings throughout that period.
Queensland's 3.5 per cent increase in cattle yardings was likely reflective of a poorer season in relation to other areas, agents said, while in Victoria and SA it was a case of producers cashing in on record-breaking prices, regardless of what grass was on offer.
Queensland's cattle saleyard yardings were up 3.5 per cent on previous-year levels, SA was up 7.4pc and Victoria was up 2.6pc.
NSW's 37 cattle facilities transacted over 1.5m head, with Wagga Wagga overtaking Dubbo as the largest selling centre, increasing it's load by 10.1pc to 190,150 head.
Dubbo's cattle transactions dropped almost 20pc and sheep nearly 30pc.
Queensland's 26 saleyards saw 1.35 head of cattle sold, with Roma retaining its crown as largest saleyard, putting 275,258 head under the hammer, or 20pc of the state.
Blackall jumped a whopping 125pc and Charters Towers 54pc.
Victoria's 21 yards transacted just over 1m head of cattle, with Wodonga leading the charge. Victoria's 19 sheep facilities sold 4.5m head, with Bendigo the largest, accounting for 23pc of the state's sheep saleyard business.
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