DECEMBER KEY TREND FIGURES

	Sep 2017	Dec 2017	Sep '17 to Dec '17	Dec '16 to Dec '17
Livestock (no.)
Cattle (excluding calves)	1 803 816	1 803 244	-0.0%	4.2%
Calves	103 546	109 306	5.6%	-1.3%
Sheep	1 949 463	2 080 133	6.7%	30.6%
Lambs	5 594 605	5 672 629	1.4%	0.7%
Pigs	1 326 850	1 339 226	0.9%	4.0%
Chickens	161 237 656	159 588 459	-1.0%	-2.2%

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Livestock products (t)
Beef	538 193	539 571	0.3%	6.9%
Veal	4 689	4 792	2.2%	-9.2%
Mutton	48 586	51 211	5.4%	29.2%
Lamb	127 297	128 507	1.0%	0.7%
Pig meat	102 646	103 452	0.8%	4.9%
Total red meat	821 412	827 533	0.7%	6.6%
Chicken meat	304 463	303 419	-0.3%	-1.5%
Brokers and dealers receivals of taxable wool	94 691	94 471	-0.2%	0.0%

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Source(s): Livestock Products, Australia (cat. no. 7215.0)

Source(s): Livestock Products, Australia (cat. no. 7215.0)

KEY POINTS

Livestock slaughtering and meat production quarterly trend movements for December 2017:

• Cattle slaughter decreased 600 head compared with the previous quarter and increased by 72,800 head (or 4.2%) year on year.
• The number of calves slaughtered increased by 5,800 head (or 5.6%) compared with the previous quarter and decreased 1,400 head (or 1.3%) year on year.
• Sheep slaughter increased by 130,700 head (or 6.7%) compared with the previous quarter and increased by 487,000 head or (30.6%) year on year.
• Lamb slaughter increased 78,000 head (or 1.4%) compared with the previous quarter and increased by 38,300 head (or 0.7%) year on year.
• Pig slaughter increased by 12,400 head (or 0.9%) compared with the previous quarter and increased by 51,000 head (or 4.0%) year on year.
• Chicken meat production decreased by 1,000 tonnes (or 0.3%) compared with the previous quarter and decreased by 4,500 tonnes (or 1.5%) year on year.
• Receivals of wool decreased by 200 tonnes (or 0.2%) compared with the previous quarter and decreased by 29 tonnes year on year.