The cut back is due to a shortage in supply after two years of high demand and a drought saw record numbers of cattle taken out of the national herd.

NSW Farmers district president Alan Brown said the Australian beef cattle industry was largely a victim of its own success.

“There’s a lot of demand, particularly in the export market, that’s led to a general shortage of livestock and it’s reflected in the very high prices (we’re seeing),” Mr Brown said.

“We’ve got a very sound reputation for producing clean and green, good quality meat. The demand is there, but you can’t turn it around overnight… rebuilding the herd takes time.” 

Ben Thomas, Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) market information manager, said the national herd had been through a massive drop in numbers due to drought, high processing and live exports.

“In 2014 there was 29 million head of cattle in Australia, the highest it had been in 35 years, but then widespread drought saw a record turnoff where we had back to back years of 10.5 million cattle going out of the system,” Mr Thomas said.

“About 9 million were slaughtered and about 1.3 million exported – so there were more cattle going out than calves coming through.

“When you start thinking about numbers killed we anticipate this will be the tightest year, next year it should start to recover and by 2019/2020 the number of cattle available should be back to normal.”

Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union’s (AMIEU) state organiser Mark Perkins said live exports were a major problem for workers.

“The only way meat should leave the country is in a box, otherwise you’re just exporting jobs,” Mr Perkins said.

“Live exports pay big money and they put the squeeze on companies like Teys.”