Livestock

The great herd rebuild isn’t going anywhere

By Daneka Hill

Sep 2, 2022

Less females at the abattoirs and strong bull purchasing are the smoke signals which tell us farmers are hard at work rebuilding their herds. The MLA is bracing for bigger and better calf drops from here on out. Photo by Bianca Mibus

The national cattle herd is right on track for a 5.6 per cent rise in numbers by the end of 2022.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Meat and Livestock Australia has been watching the female slaughter rate closely and believes all signs are good.

The female slaughter rate is a lead indicator of whether farmers are rebuilding or thinning out their herds.

On top of the high retention of cows, the positive bull sales point towards a very strong rebuild, according to the MLA.

How strong?

During the past 12 months the female slaughter rate has averaged 44 per cent nationally.

Queensland and South Australia are retaining the most females on-farm.

MLA senior market information analyst Ripley Atkinson said farmers retaining their females would drive a long-term positive outlook as producers anticipate larger calf drops.

“The correlative relationship between producers purchasing more bulls during this selling season and the lower FSRs demonstrates producers either intend to or have females available to be joined to increase their herd numbers on-farm,” Mr Atkinson said.

The effects of this retention of females and larger numbers of females joined won’t be fully appreciated or felt until these calf drops reach processor weights from grass or complete their feedlot programs.

By Daneka Hill

Journalist