May 15, 2013

For the first quarter of 2013, Australia's cattle slaughter reached 1.87 million head, up 7% on-year and the highest first quarter total since 2009.

This is according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released late last week.

With the widespread dry conditions placing pressure on producers, the eastern states slaughter information collected by Meat & Livestock Australia's National Livestock Reporting Service (MLA's NLRS) for April and May indicates that the second quarter kill will also be very high, most likely exceeding two million head for the quarter.

Driven by the surge in cattle throughput, production was also up for the first quarter, totalling 532,842 tonnes cwt, up 4% on-year and 6% on the five-year average. With the dry conditions causing a higher proportion of unfinished lines into works, average adult carcase weights fell to 277 kilogrammes/head during March, back 4% on-year and the lightest average carcase weight since September 2010.