East coast cattle yardings fell to a 3 ½ year low for a full week of sales last week.
There were just 26,708 head, down 31 per cent. This was driven by transport disruptions in Queensland, where yardings were down 55 per cent to just 5907.
It seems strange that more cattle are not being sold through saleyards.
A fortnight ago, 112,503 head of cattle were slaughtered on the east coast, while just 27,708 were sold through saleyards.
Odd, because according to MLA’s price, saleyards are holding a more than 100¢ premium when compared to over the hooks for young cattle. For heavy steers and cows, the premium is more like 50¢/kg cwt.
NSW trade steers hit a new record last week at 737¢/kg cwt, while their over the hooks counterpart was quoted at just 587¢.
