WA sheep farmers to move to chilled meat as flock numbers dwindle

Western Australia flock numbers are dwindling ahead of a live export phase-out as farmers turn to other avenues.

Western Australia flocks are dwindling ahead of a looming live export ban, but the federal government says producers are expected to move into frozen and chilled products.

Wickepin Merino seedstock producer Grantly Mullan said flock declines started when the federal government announced a phase out live sheep exports by sea by May 1, 2028.

He said it coincided with a poor season, lack of shearers, high lambing rates and abattoir unavailabilities.

“The damage was done, really,” he said.

“We’d be back 25-40 per cent on ram sales. Sales for breeding are down right across the board.”

Picture: Zoe Phillips

He said producers still struggled to secure abattoir bookings, while others had focused more on cropping.

“When the federal government says we’ll process them locally, the only way that’ll be achieved now is if there’s less lambs available,” he said.

“The people who have gotten out will never get back into sheep.”

A Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development spokesperson said the sheep and lamb turn-off reached 6.55 million in 2024, which was a 13 per cent jump from 2023.

“There has been a significant increase in the number of sheep and lambs slaughtered over the past two years,” the spokesperson said.

“There was also a large increase in the number of sheep sold interstate during 2024, rising from 249,000 to 884,000.”

They said the live sheep export ban was not the sole reason for flock downsizing, but also included poor seasonal conditions and processing constraints resulting in low prices.

Sheep flock on dry country. Picture: Rachel Simmonds

Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton said ALEC would continue opposing the live export ban.

Live sheep exports dropped 37 per cent in 2024, with a 41 per cent fall in export value to $43.8m.

“We haven’t had any indications that demand (for live exports) has reduced off the back of that … Certainly producers in WA are moving away from sheep and that will have a detrimental effect to production,” Mr Harvey-Sutton said.

“There’s a lot of discussion happening at the moment about ‘what next?’ with our opposition to the policy, it remains a stupid policy, that doesn’t change.

“But our opportunity to change that is probably much more difficult now and that’s something we’ll have to grapple with as a live export industry and a sheep production industry as well.”

A Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry spokesperson said ABARES had no current data on sheep flock numbers, but producers were expected to focus on frozen and chilled lamb and mutton exports.

“Additionally, producers in Western Australia – particularly mixed farms – are expected to continue to increase their focus on cropping,” the spokesperson said.

They said live export figures coincided with increased cropping profitability and more land dedicated to cropping, while farmers also shifted to processing meat domestically.

“Both West Australian production and export volumes (for boxed and frozen lamb and mutton) were at record levels in 2023–24, at 120,000 and 89,000 tonnes respectively.”

They said reduced crop input costs and strong grain and oilseed prices supported profitability compared to sheep and wool.