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Sheep notes

Interstate transfers

Between January and June in 2023 interstate transfers reached 142,000. This is 181% higher than at the same time in 2022 when 51,000 had been trucked east.

Despite this it is far below the 1m sent east in 2020 and 461,000 in 2021 at this time of year while the east was restocking following severe drought.

Of the sheep transferred interstate so far this year, 75% were lambs and 25% were adult sheep. Eastern states processors are active in WA markets due to WA’s discounted prices and backlog of animals awaiting slaughter in local processing plants.

Interstate transfer of sheep between 2017 and June 2023 showing the peak in 2020 when it reached 2.0m
The cumulative number of WA sheep transferred interstate by month (Based on PIRSA data, DPIRD analysis)