SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Higher feed grain supply has slowed an expected drop in Australian cattle exports as feedlot operators use cheap grain to fatten animals affected by a three-year drought and sell them to lucrative markets in Japan and Korea.
The cheaper feed, the result of poor barley crops and bumper grain harvests, has helped feedlot operators boost herds at the expense of grass-feeding cattle farmers. The surging feedlot cattle herds should offset a drop in Australian cattle exports to a three-year low in the 2015-16 season as grass-fed herds have been culled because of a lack of food and water due to the drought.
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Currently, strong demand from feedlots has been supporting prices at local auctions, said Bim Struss, a cattle farmer in Queensland, Australia’s biggest cattle producing state.
Feedlots are reaping the benefit of poor weather’s effect on malting barley, with only 40 percent of the crop fit for beer making, according to Andrew Gee, executive chair of Barley Australia.
At the same time, sorghum production has been boosted by storms in recent weeks.
“We had a pretty good season for barley and wheat and we are looking at some good yields for sorghum too,” said Wayne Newton, a farmer in Dalby, 200 kilometres northwest of the Queensland capital Brisbane.
