NEW figures have revealed which of Australia's saleyards were the busiest in terms of throughput during the past financial year.
Meat & Livestock Australia's annual saleyard survey found that for the second year in a row Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina region was the busiest during the 2021-2022 time period.
Helping Wagga Wagga secure the honour for a second consecutive year was the whopping 2,005,901 sheep that went up for bids at the centre, which was up 10 per cent from the 1,818,942 recorded in the previous financial year.
The figures, which were accumulated by the National Livestock Reporting Service, showed that Wagga Wagga accounted for 30pc of the sheep sales in NSW during the time frame.
However, the MLA report showed that throughput in the nation's saleyards were slightly down by one per cent from the previous year as 13 million sheep and 3.7 million cattle were yarded during the period.
In NSW, overall sheep numbers were up by 6.2pc, while cattle numbers cracked the one million mark to be up 15pc.
Queensland also cracked the one million cattle mark and enjoyed a rise of 11.2pc, while the sunshine state's only sheep celling centre, Warwick was slightly down by 1.7pc with more than 60,000 head coming through the yards.
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The upward trend for cattle continued in Victoria which recorded a rise of nearly eight per cent while sheep numbers were down 5.7pc.
It was a similar story in Tasmania as the apple isle's cattle numbers rose by nearly 22pc, but its sheep numbers dropped by more than 14pc.
Unfortunately, the report found that was where the upticks would end as both South Australia and Western Australia recorded decreases in both sheep and cattle numbers.
In all, SA's sheep numbers were down 16.7pc while its cattle numbers were marginally down by 1.6pc, while it was a similar story in WA as sheep numbers plummeted by 23.6pc and cattle numbers slid by 4.1pc.
A breakdown of each state
Queensland's Roma Saleyards was once again atop the cattle numbers with 220,567 head coming through the yards in the Maranoa district in the past financial year.
Despite accounting for almost 18pc of the state's total cattle yarding, the numbers were nearly eight per cent lower than the previous year.
Charters Towers' Dalrymple Saleyards enjoyed a massive year, recording a 202pc increase, as 170,492 head came through the yards as opposed to 56,463 the previous year.
Also among the centres to record a major increase in cattle numbers was the Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange, which had a rise of 23.4pc with 124,863 head coming through.
The rise meant Tamworth accounted for 10.9pc of the state's throughput, narrowly edging out Casino (10.8pc) for the top gong in NSW.
Enjoying the biggest jump in Victoria's cattle numbers was Leongatha with a rise of 12.3pc, meaning it accounted for 18pc of the state's numbers, ahead of Wodonga and Mortlake in equal second, which made up 12.6pc each.
On the Victorian sheep front, the Central Victoria Livestock Exchange at Ballarat remained atop the rankings, despite experiencing a drop of nearly five per cent with 1,562,896 entering the yards, representing 36.52pc of the state's numbers, head of Hamilton with almost 24pc.
In South Australia, Naracoorte held onto top spot for both cattle and sheep as the centre's cattle numbers enjoyed a rise of six per cent to 88,634, or 39.1pc of the state's numbers, ahead of Mount Gambier, which accounted for 28.6pc of the state's total, despite recording a drop of 7.9pc from the year before.
Despite recording a drop of 16pc of its sheep numbers, Naracoorte still accounted for 49pc of the state'st total, ahead of the South Australian Livestock Exchange, which accounted for 41.4pc, despite a drop of 14.4pc from the previous year.
The status quo remained in Western Australia as the Muchea Livestock Centre yet again claimed top spot for cattle with 39.5pc of the state's share, despite a drop of 2.5pc.
Boyanup maintained second place and was the only one of the state's three cattle selling centres to record a rise in its overall yarding as the numbers at the Great Southern Regional Cattle Saleyards at Mt Barker dropped by more than 13.3pc.
Despite recording a drop of 26.1pc, Katanning was still WA's biggest sheep selling centre, ahead of Muchea, which also experienced a drop of 19.9pc.
Overall, sheep numbers in WA were down by 23.6pc from the previous year.
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
