The survey is run three times a year by MLA, with the latest survey just released and reporting on data collected between October and December 2024.
Positive industry sentiment has lifted to 47 per cent for this survey, compared to 11 per cent from 12 months earlier and 34 pe rcent from April 2024.
The survey spoke to more than 3400 grassfed beef cattle producers and covers producer sentiment and intentions, herd profile, breed demographics, sales channels and expected sales for 2025.
“Producer sentiment has lifted across all states compared to last year,” MLA market information manager Stephen Bignell said.
“For example, positive sentiment in Queensland has lifted to 59 points and NSW sentiment has also lifted to 51 points.
“Strong sentiment between states reflects the better conditions and prices contributing to the improved outlook, leading to improved producer sentiment and intentions over the next 12 months.”
At the producer level, there is an overall intention to increase the on-farm grassfed adult beef cattle herd in the next 12 months with:
- 45 per cent indicating they would increase their herd size;
- 16 per cent indicating it would remain unchanged; and
- 39 per cent indicating they would decrease their herd size.
“This represents another lift in intentions from the last BPIS survey in April 2024 and from 12 months earlier,” Mr Bignell said.
“While the results do not indicate producers have all shifted to a rebuild focus, there has been a noticeable shift away from herd reductions.”
When asked about their reasons for the expected increase in herd, producers cited restocking/rebuilding (36 per cent), expanding operations (30 per cent), expectations of good seasonal conditions (26 per cent) and expectations of strong market conditions (18 per cent) as their reasons.
When asked about their intended methods to increase their herd, producers cited the retention of more heifers than normal (53 per cent), the purchase of more steers (19 per cent) and purchase of more breeding heifers (13 per cent) as their top three approaches.
The Beef Producer Intentions Survey was designed by MLA to support the industry with reliable data and is used by MLA and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is one of the inputs into the MLA beef industry forecasting models.
To view the full results, go to the MLA website.
