The Forbes Central West Livestock Exchange (CWLE) has seen record throughput numbers for sheep during the first four months of the 2024/25 financial year, with a staggering 721,473 sheep being yarded through the facility between July and October 2024.
CWLE, the second largest selling centre for sheep in NSW and third largest in Australia, averages around 1.4 million sheep sold annually, but is on track to beat that number, with the current figure being 40% higher than this time last year.
In July alone 198,245 sheep were sold, which was the biggest month since July 2018, and numbers have averaged between 150,000 and 200,000 per month since then.
It has also been a big four months for cattle with 30,099 being sold- an increase of 32% on last year and the largest numbers since 2014.
General Manager of Forbes Shire Council, Steve Loane OAM, said state of the art facilities and a central location were attracting vendors and buyers to the CWLE.
“We have become a selling centre of choice for livestock vendors in Victoria, Queensland and across western NSW, and our central location on the Newell Highway makes it easy for them to access us,” he said.
“We have resting paddocks and feeding services for livestock which has been attractive for sellers travelling long distances as it allows them to transport their livestock here a few days before a sale knowing their animals will be looked after.”
Peter Blackburn, an independent buying agent based in Orange, said prices at the CWLE were around $100 higher per head than this time last year, which had attracted more vendors to sell in Forbes.
“We’ve seen up to $280 per head for large export lambs here which is very strong,” he said.
CWLE is also prepared for the compulsory eID tagging of sheep in NSW from 2025 and was the first livestock exchange in NSW to install eID readers.
All sheep born from 1 January 2025 will need to be tagged before leaving their property of birth, and livestock saleyards will be required to scan them.”
Image caption: Over 700,000 sheep were yarded through the CWLE from July to October 2024.