Cattle female slaughter rate eases

For Q4 last year, adult cattle slaughter reached 2.13m head, which was 16% above the same quarter in 2023. Over the whole year, 8.3 million cattle were processed, which was the largest throughput since 2019 and 18% higher than 2023.

All states lifted on the previous year, with Tasmania’s rate lifting 4% and Western Australia 10%. New South Wales and Queensland had similar lifts at 15% and 16% respectively.

“The largest lifts were seen in Victoria which had a 27% increase and South Australia which had a 56% higher slaughter rate compared to 2023,” Mr Bignell said.

“Dry conditions across the southern band of the country have forced stronger turnoff across those states as producers move to destock by selling interstate or processing excess cattle.”

Despite 2024 slaughter being 10% below the previous slaughter record, production last year reached record volumes. Over 2.57 million tons of beef was produced, up 16% on 2023, and enabling the record exports seen last year.

The average adult carcass weight (cwt) lifted 2.6kg from the previous quarter to 310.8kg cwt, although this was 2.8kg below December 2023.

A reduction in female turnoff is the reason for these weights with female slaughter reduced 6% and the female slaughter rate (FSR) down from 52.2% to 51.8%.

The industry uses 47% FSR as a benchmark as to whether the industry is in a restock, steady or destocking phase. A quarterly FSR of 51.8% is the third consecutive quarter above this benchmark, which indicates the cattle herd has entered a destocking period.