Western Australian Beef Commentary

Current herd situation in WA

Over the last two years the Western Australian (WA) meat cattle herd has been undergoing a period of relative growth as illustrated below in Figure 1. In 2013/14 the total beef cattle herd numbered 1.83 million head. This grew by 22% to 2.24 million in 2014/15, however has contracted 7% to 2.09 million (adjusted figure) in 2015/16. Despite the herd reduction in 2015/16 this is still the highest the state herd has been since 2009/10 with the exception of 2014/15.

The WA cow herd has shown similar growth over this time period. Between 2013/14 and 2014/15 the number of cows and heifers grew 22% from 1.00 to 1.23 million before declining 11% to 1.10 million (adjusted figure) in 2015/16.

Total WA cattle turn-off has increased 3% year on year from 0.68 million in 2014/15 to 0.70 million in 2015/16.

Figure 1 The closing number of beef cattle and cows and heifers in the Western Australian herd and total turn-off (Based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), analysed by the Department of Agriculture and Food, WA (DAFWA))[1] [1] 2015/16* The ABS has revised the cut-off for the Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) for farm businesses from $5000 to $40 000 in 2015/16 affecting the herd estimate. The 2015/16* herd estimate has been adjusted to account for the changes.