Cost per kg for pork, beef and lamb

The idea is the same for every enterprise: total cost divided by kilograms produced. What changes is the weight you measure, and how you deal with more than one product.

Pork

Pigs are usually sold on carcase weight. Carcase weight is the weight of the body after slaughter, which is mostly meat and bone. So piggeries work out cost per kg of carcase.

The steps are:

1. Sows, times pigs weaned per sow, gives pigs weaned.
2. Take off deaths after weaning to get pigs sold.
3. Pigs sold, times average carcase weight, gives kilograms sold.
4. Total costs, divided by kilograms sold, gives cost per kg.

Feed is the big line. Australian Pork Limited told a Productivity Commission inquiry that grain was about 60% of the total cost of production. So it's worth working out feed cost per kg on its own as well. Our piggery budget guide goes through a full example.

Beef

Cattle are often sold on liveweight at the saleyards, so beef cost of production is usually per kg of liveweight. That's the MLA method.

For a benchmark, the 2026 Australian Beef Report by Bush Agribusiness put the southern top 25% at $2.35/kg liveweight. The southern average was $3.40/kg. In the north, the top 25% was $1.79/kg and the average $2.49/kg. Use these as a rough guide only, because every district and season is different.

Lamb and wool

Sheep are trickier, because many flocks sell two products: meat and wool. The Making More From Sheep method, from AWI and MLA, splits total costs by each product's share of income. If lamb brings in 80% of the income, it carries 80% of the costs.

Lamb cost is then divided by kilograms of carcase sold. Wool cost is divided by kilograms of clean wool. Clean wool is the weight after the grease and dirt are washed out.

The Making More From Sheep method leaves out interest. It says cost of production "is not complicated by how you have financed the business". That way, two farms with different debts can be compared fairly.

Keep the basis clear

Always write down which weight you used: liveweight or carcase. Mixing them up is the most common mistake we see. Lesson 4 shows how to compare them.

Try the free piggery cost of production calculator or the sheep gross margin calculator.