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“By consulting with producers, processors, agents, and government, MLA creates a clear forecast of the national herd and flock, slaughter, production and carcase weights for the cattle and sheep industries.”<\/p>\n
Australia is currently in an opposite supply cycle to major beef-producing competitors such as the United States and Brazil, and as the US begins its long-overdue herd rebuild, along with drought conditions in Brazil easing, the global beef supply is expected to tighten.<\/p>\n
Mr Crowley said Australia was well-positioned to achieve record production and export volumes again.<\/p>\n
“With increasing carcase weights, storage space has become more valuable, and efficient logistics are now essential to maintaining processing flow and preventing bottlenecks in the supply chain.<\/p>\n
“Looking ahead, Australia’s investments in domestic production, processing capacity, and global trade relationships have positioned the cattle sector well for the next few years.”<\/p>\n
The report notes that the sheep slaughter is forecast to decline 17 per cent to 9.8 million head in 2025, following the record rates of sheep turn-off at the conclusion of 2024.<\/p>\n
Lamb slaughter is forecast to reach 26.2 million head, which is a slight 0.5 per cent decline from 2024.<\/p>\n
However, this still represents the second-largest slaughter year on record behind 2024.<\/p>\n
Despite the decline in the national sheep flock, lamb production continues to operate at historically high levels reaching 628,648 tonnes in 2025.<\/p>\n
This is in part driven by genetic changes in the flock with a focus on improving weight gain and yield in lamb carcases.<\/p>\n
Their report highlights that Australia and New Zealand account for more than 80 per cent of global sheepmeat exports, however, the long-standing decline of the New Zealand sheep flock provides an opportunity for Australian sheepmeat exporters to continue their global dominance in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AUSTRALIA’S sheep and cattle herd has taken a hit due to unseasonal conditions in the past 12 months, especially in the southern regions of the country. And according to Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA) 2025 Cattle and Sheep Industry Projections report, the big kill off is expected to continue. MLA projects that the national cattle […]<\/p>\n