Good falls of rain have been welcomed by farmers in cropping and cattle supply areas throughout southern Queensland, north eastern NSW and down the NSW east coast, according to Meat and Livestock Australia.
MLA reports that due to the rain, a number of prime cattle markets in Queensland were cancelled last week.
As a result national yardings fell 16pc compared to the previous week.
Numbers were considerably smaller in Queensland where yardings fell by 84pc at Silverdale, 63pc at Dalby and 61pc at Moreton.
The majority of yardings in NSW and Victoria were also reduced.
Yardings, however, increased in SA as dry weather prevailed. This increase may be a result of cancelled markets next Monday due to the Queen's birthday long weekend, with producers looking to offload sooner rather than later, MLA says.
With the overall reduction in throughput, values showed an improvement across the young cattle category, particularly in northern areas.
MLA's National Livestock Reporting Service found that vealer steers realised the largest gains in Queensland and NSW.
The Queensland vealer steer indicator lifted 12¢ on last week to 178¢/kg (live), while NSW increased 9¢ to 181¢/kg.
The yearling steer indicator in the south actually fell. Victoria dropped 8¢ to 177¢/kg and SA reduced 4¢ to 183¢/kg.
The yearling steer indicator in NSW increased 2¢ to 178¢/kg, while Queensland jumped 23¢ to 176¢/kg.
Lot feeders lifted their prices in SA by 10¢ to 175¢/kg. Queensland gained 3¢ to 169¢/kg, while Victoria and NSW remained stable at 172¢ and 164¢/kg, respectively.
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