Australia: largest annual sheep and lamb slaughter in decades

The latest quarterly statistics on livestock slaughter and meat production from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have shown that 2024 was the largest year for lamb and sheep slaughter in decades.

Numbers analyzed by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) show that 26.4 million lambs were slaughtered in calendar year 2024, which is the largest number ever. Sheep slaughter also reached 11.8 million head, the largest since 2006. According to Market Information Manager at MLA, Stephen Bignell, the record slaughter rates are significant for several reasons.

“These elevated slaughter rates seen in 2024 are due to a combination of a large national sheep flock with higher percentages of sheepmeat breeds being processed, and generally drier conditions seen in South Australia and Victoria,” Mr Bignell said.

Total lamb production for the year reached 629,385 tons. This makes 2024 the largest lamb production year on record, 6% above 2023 figures.

“In the past two years production has lifted by 18%. This is due to genetic improvements in the flock but also the demographic shift towards sheepmeat and shedding breeds, which is driving fertility and thus leading to productivity gains in the national flock,” Mr Bignell said.

For the previous quarter to December 2024, mutton production hit 90,847 tons, which was the largest quarterly sheep production since 2001.

“Across the country towards the end of last year we saw mutton production soar,” Mr Bignell said.

“Favorable prices at the end of the year drove this increase. Lamb prices reached A$10/kg while mutton was at 300-440c/kg, making it more desirable to process mutton as opposed to lambs for many producers”.