Australia-Weekly cattle report from Meat Livestock Australia.

Numbers at saleyards covered by the National Livestock Reporting Service rose by 4pc this compared to last week and 8pc on the corresponding week for 2008.

Meat and Livestock Australia reports that Queensland was the main contributor to the surge in numbers with an increase of 80pc in comparison to the previous week.

MLA says that as the season begins to dry off with recent hot weather, available feed sources have subsided.

Despite high rainfall in northern Queensland, little rain has fallen in southern areas of the state.

Evidently, southern Queensland producers are opting to offload cattle in increasing numbers, resulting in yardings in Queensland rising substantially.

Producers were tempted to hold onto cattle last week due to a number of processors still being closed for maintenance.

However, with the majority now reopened, grown cattle numbers have increased, placing upward pressure on overall yarding sizes.

MLA reports that also contributing to the greater numbers is the current uncertain nature of export markets, with some producers offloading stock sooner rather than later to seize current prices.

This week’s yardings in Queensland were 27pc higher than last year.

At the beginning of 2008, there was good rainfall and producers opted to hold on to stock during late January.