{"id":705349,"date":"2026-05-31T01:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T01:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705349\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T01:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T01:06:23","slug":"cattle-prices-kick-as-rain-tumbles-in-the-eastern-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705349\/","title":{"rendered":"Cattle prices kick as rain tumbles in the eastern states"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cattle prices jumped significantly this week as rain fell across key production areas, especially in New South Wales.<\/p>\n

Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) has surged to its highest level since 2022, with a number of saleyards reporting strong demand from restockers.<\/p>\n

At Wagga Wagga on Monday, young cattle prices lifted by up to 100 cents a kilogram, “reflecting determination to secure stock”, said the MLA report.<\/p>\n

\"EYCI<\/p>\n

The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator has reached its highest point since 2022. (ABC Landline)<\/p>\n

At Singleton on Wednesday, MLA said the “magical $6\/kg mark was broken for steer calves” on a day where “commission buyers had fistfuls of new orders following the rain event statewide”.<\/p>\n

Richard Bailey from the National Livestock Reporting Service said the market was on the up across the board.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t say prices have gone through the roof, but we have seen some ridiculous increases during the week,” he told the Country Hour.<\/p>\n

“Most markets saw increases of 40 to 60 cents a kilo.<\/p>\n

“I got told by one agent in Wagga Wagga, he can’t remember a day, like Monday’s sale, where prices jumped that amount.”<\/p>\n

\"Landline<\/p>\n

Cattle prices are up across the board. (ABC Landline)<\/p>\n

Cows on the up<\/p>\n

Heavy cows fetched some incredible money this week, with more than $4.20\/kg paid at several locations including Dubbo, Wagga Wagga and Tamworth.<\/p>\n

At Dalby, cows reached a saleyard record of $4.42\/kg.<\/p>\n

Australian abattoirs are going flat out, processing 166,446 head last week, which MLA said was the highest weekly slaughter level since 2015, and putting Australia on track to produce a record amount of beef in 2026.<\/p>\n

The biggest export market for lean cow meat this year has been the United States of America, which is fast approaching its “grilling season”.<\/a><\/p>\n

Loading…Grain prices ease<\/p>\n

Clear Grain Exchange says rain in the east might have lifted cattle prices, but it had the opposite effect on grain prices.<\/p>\n

It said the rain has put pressure on grain values, with wheat falling by $25 a tonne in some locations this week.<\/p>\n

It said a lot of buyers were now “happy to wait on weather”, with the production outlook for this year’s winter crop improving.<\/p>\n

Cheaper grain will please Australia’s feedlot sector, which is dealing with record numbers of stock.<\/p>\n

The latest report by the Australian Lot Feeders’ Association (ALFA), shows the number of cattle on feed has grown to 1.62 million head.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cattle on feed has climbed to a record 1.62 million head. (ABC Landline)<\/p>\n

ALFA said the first quarter of 2026 was a record breaker for the sector, with turn-off exceeding 1 million head for the first time.<\/p>\n

ALFA president Grant Garey said the results reflected continued confidence and investment across the feedlot sector, but there were plenty of challenges ahead.<\/p>\n

“In recent months, global uncertainty has increased following the introduction of China’s market access quota, ongoing instability in the Middle East, drought conditions in several regions, and pressure in fuel and fertiliser markets,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We are yet to see how these factors will fully impact feedlot production later this year, however confidence remains strong, global demand buoyant and the underlying fundamentals sound.”<\/p>\n

Watch ABC TV’s Landline at 12:30pm on Sunday or on ABC iview<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cattle prices jumped significantly this week as rain fell across key production areas, especially in New South Wales.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,8962,99,13331,58551,343186,27946,4694,9074,15157,178366,1192],"class_list":["post-705349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beef","tag-business","tag-cattle","tag-cows","tag-eyci","tag-landline","tag-market","tag-prices","tag-rain","tag-saleyards","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}