“Big hitters” remain at the top of AuctionsPlus Regional cattle rankings for start of 2022

Cattle offerings for the first quarter of 2022 (1 January- 31 March) reached a total of 225,622 head - a 17% year-on-year rise from the same period in 2021. Making up the year-on-year increase was a 31% rise in the number of steers offered on the platform, at 84,445 head, while female throughput rose by 9%, to total 135,109 head.

As seen in Table 1 below, the regions with the highest throughput of cattle remain largely unchanged from previous quarters. Most notable among the cattle listing regions is the 30,225 head listed from the NSW Northwest Slopes and Plains, which registered a 70% year-on-year increase in throughput. All four Queensland regions were placed in the top ten throughput regions for the quarter, amounting to a total of 66,288 head, or 30% of the total cattle listed on AuctionsPlus across the three-month period. Regions with the largest year-on-year change in throughput, but not making the top ten for number of head included the Lower Great Southern WA (468%), Lower SE SA (133%) and Midlands WA (104%)

On the purchasing side, Table 3 displays the regions securing the largest volume of cattle for the first quarter. Southern Queensland secured the largest number of cattle for the quarter, with 53,827 head - accounting for 26% of total cattle purchased. The region recorded a 136% rise in purchases from the same period in 2021. Purchases for Southern Queensland were divided evenly between steers and heifers, with this trend echoed across the other purchasing regions in the state. Furthermore, both Southern Queensland and Central West NSW purchases rose by 37% and 19% respectively from the last quarter of 2021.

Of the NSW cattle purchased for the quarter, 71% sold to buyers within the state, while 25% of purchases sold to Queensland buyers. Similarly, Queensland cattle purchased during the quarter had 81% of purchases remain in Queensland, and 16% to NSW buyers

Several NSW regions including the Central West, Northwest Slopes and Plains, Riverina and Northern Tablelands all had purchases dominated with heifers and breeder cattle - accounting for between 68-78% of purchases. Tasmanian cattle purchases, which increased by 21% year-on-year, had the highest proportion of steers purchased across all states - accounting for 65% of total cattle transactions.