In the week ending November 18 both cattle (up 29 per cent) and lambs (up 12 per cent) produced yarding up on the previous week.
Under the pressure of these larger offerings all categories held the line reasonably well.
In Queensland Roma and Dalby combined for the week to yard just in excess of 13,000 head. Dubbo, also with a prime and store cattle sale for the week, produced strong numbers.
World wide demand for both beef and sheepmeats have shown improvement in recent weeks and in association with a softening Aussie dollar have allowed exporters to sell increased volume to their overseas clients.
No doubt in my mind that saleyard prices will firm up in the next few weeks following the widespread rain over much of the eastern side of the continent.
Exporters of both sheep meats and beef have already indicated that over the hook (OTH) prices will be on the rise in coming days.
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The grain season in the central west is already shaping as another “harvest from hell”.
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In the last three weeks Dubbo agents have held two store cattle sales totalling some 6500 head with most results beyond our highest expectations.
Apart from the prices received which have been exceptional, and some good judges suggest that they have rarely if ever seen better prices paid particularly for weaner cattle.
The thing that appeals to myself the most is the width and breath of the dispersal of the livestock when they leave the saleyards.
Nearly all major centres in southern NSW and Victoria received some cattle out of the one or both of these sales with some lots even overflowing into South Australia. One large consignment even ended up being sent to Launceston in Tasmania.
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released preliminary estimates for cattle herds and sheep flock growth for 2011 after the agricultural census taken earlier this year.
According to the ABS the Australian cattle herd grew by 9 per cent in the year to June 30 to reach 28.8 million head.
Queensland has the largest herd up by 13 per cent to stand at 12.8 million head. NSW rose 7 per cent year on year to reach 5.8 million. Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania all enjoyed substantial growth while Western Australia and Northern Territory both suffered slight decline.
For the first time since 2004 the Australian sheep flock has increased year on year.
The flock grew by 9 per cent to currently stand at 74.3 million head.
NSW has the largest flock at 27 million up by 11 per cent on last year.
Victoria has 15.4 million while South Australia were the big movers up 25 per cent to 11.2 million head. West Australia was the only state to suffer a decline in numbers falling by 2 per cent to 14.5 million.
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Victoria has come to the fore in lamb yardings with some centres experiencing an explosion in numbers available at their regular markets. Hamilton a case in point yarded 30,000 lambs, three times the level of the previous weeks. Victoria as a result of the surge in these numbers accounted for 38 per cent of total yardings. NSW accounted for 35 per cent of the national yarding which did not leave much of the cake for the rest of the states. South Australia sneaked into third position with 23 per cent.
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