The benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator came off the boil early this week, but stabilised towards the end of the week to finish Thursday trading 1¢/kg lower at 344.5¢/kg (carcase weight), according to Meat and Livestock Australia.

MLA's National Livestock Reporting Service says numbers of cattle fitting EYCI specifications in the saleyards are on par with last week's and similar to those of the same time last year.

But the quality of cattle being yarded at saleyards has been mixed over the past few weeks, MLA says.

This has been due to the recent onset of cooler weather, which has come later than has been seen in recent years and has had an affect on both cattle quality and crop and pasture growth.

Additionally, MLA reports that improved direct to works prices have attracted a fair percentage of the best condition stock from the saleyards – meaning processors are finding it harder to come across large consignments of well conditioned lines.

However, despite there only being small runs at most centres, there is still a decent number of well conditioned stock on the market, including supplementary and crop finished lines of trade cattle.