INDICATORS: Small drop in cattle indicators and mixed bag for sheep and lambs

The National Young Cattle Indicator (NYCI) dialled back this week, falling 10.46c/kg liveweight to be 346.78c/kg on Thursday evening. It remains 4.55 up on the previous month and 21.91 higher than the same time last year. 

The NYCI is a seven-day rolling average of young cattle sold across all NLRS-reported saleyards and Australia’s suite of online livestock marketplaces. 

Roma Store Sales, recording an average price of 331.67c/kg, accounted for the largest portion - around 22% or 3,552 head - of the calculation this week, with NSW Online sales offering 2,805 head, to account for the second largest portion of the calculation. 

Yearling steers were the largest category included, with an offering of 6,279 head alongside 5,922 yearling heifers. The steers dropped 6c/kg in the past week and the heifers averaged 19c/kg less than the previous week. 

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Meanwhile, The Eastern States Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI), a seven-day rolling average of young cattle from 23 saleyards across Queensland, NSW and Victoria, was sitting at 645.53 cents per kilogram dressed on Thursday evening, down 7.63c for the week, up 9.27 from a month ago and up 24.75 on last year. 

In the sheep markets, the Restocker Lamb Indicator was sitting at 738.94 cents per kilogram dressed on Thursday evening, a fall of 7.57c week on week after three weeks of substantial increases. The heavy lamb indicator sat steady at 807.73 cents per kilogram dressed compared to last week. 

The Merino Lamb Indicator shot up 85.61 cents per kilogram dressed compared to last week to sit at 675.71 and the Mutton Indicator also lifted to 383.71 cents per kilogram dressed, or 3.23 cents greater than the same time last week.