Slaughter pivots towards sheep as lamb supply tightens across Australia

Lamb slaughter numbers dropped back through August. Lamb slaughter numbers have dropped back across Australia, with multiple processor shutdowns and fewer lambs on the ground playing a key role. Sheep slaughter meanwhile however has trended up. Even with the drop in numbers, lamb slaughter remains above the five-year average though is lower than levels seen at the same time last year. This year lamb slaughter has been 17 per cent up on last year and 26 per cent on the five-year average, while mutton slaughter has been 14 per cent up on last year and 49pc higher than the five-year average, Elders business intelligence analyst Richard Koch said. "Lamb slaughter had been pretty high up until the last month or so, now it's starting to fall back towards the five-year average," he said. "There's a combination of things... the tough spring last year and the poor prices encouraged people to liquidate some of their flocks so we saw that in the latter half of 2023 and that's why you're ...