Influenced by the public holidays in three of the five surveyed states, the past week the volume of cattle, sheep and lambs slaughtered was altered.
The slaughter of cattle, in particular with Queensland and NSW enjoying days off, fell by 11 per cent week-on-week to 123,876 head but for the nine completed months of 2018 the beef kill remains 7pc higher than the same period in 2017.
The slaughter of sheep is also going gang-busters. It is travelling almost 45pc up for the completed nine months of 2018 on year-ago levels, while rising two per cent week-to-week – and off the reduced levels of two weeks ago, owing to the Victorian recent long weekend.
Meanwhile lamb slaughter rose 9pc week-on-week as the overall tally rose to 316,378 units, after full production returned to Victoria processors. The kill to date of new season stock with two months completed labors is down 15pc on year-ago levels, despite saleyard numbers nearing double.