The Market tab shows live saleyard indicator prices from Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA). It gives you a feel for where the market is sitting — useful when you're deciding whether to sell now or hold stock a bit longer.
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The Market tab displays indicator prices from MLA's cattle market reports. These are not individual sale results — they're weighted average indicators across a reporting period, representing what different classes of cattle are making at the major selling centres.
Prices are shown in cents per kilogram liveweight (c/kg LWT), which is the standard unit in Australian cattle markets. Saleyard prices quoted in the media and in agent reports use the same unit.
Australia has dozens of selling centres, and not all of them are relevant to where you sell. In BlackCow, you can choose which saleyards you want to track:
Common saleyards covered include Roma, Dalby, Gunnedah, Wodonga, Naracoorte, Wagga Wagga, and others depending on your region.
MLA reports prices for different livestock categories. The main ones you'll see in BlackCow:
| Indicator | What it represents |
|---|---|
| Yearling Steers | Prices for castrated male cattle roughly 1–2 years old, typically 280–400kg LWT |
| Yearling Heifers | Young females not yet in calf, similar weight range |
| Weaner Steers | Recently weaned steers, lighter cattle around 160–220kg LWT |
| Weaner Heifers | Recently weaned heifers, similar weight range |
| Cows | Cull cows — breeding females being sold out of the herd |
| Heavy Steers | Finished steers ready for processing, typically 450kg+ LWT |
The indicator for your class of cattle is the one that matters most when you're considering a sale. If you're planning to sell weaner steers, watch the Weaner Steer indicator at your nearest saleyard.
Alongside current prices, the Market tab shows a chart of recent price history for each indicator. This helps you see whether prices are rising, falling, or flat — and whether current prices are high or low compared to the recent past.
The chart typically shows the last 6–12 months of weekly indicator prices. Use this to identify whether you're in a seasonal trough (prices often soften in autumn when mobs come off heat-stressed country) or a peak (prices often strengthen in late winter/spring as pastures recover).
The Est. Herd Value on the Dashboard and in the Market tab's Full valuation table is worked out class by class:
Value by farm. With more than one farm, a row of farm tabs (All farms, then each farm) above the Full valuation table switches between the whole herd and a single farm. A single farm counts only the stock in that farm's paddocks (and only its mobs' recent weigh-ins). Weights, prices and the birth dates under Value by age are shared across farms. The Dashboard and the Herd Value Over Time chart always show all farms.
Calves (at foot) are the exception: their weight is estimated from a birth weight plus a daily gain times their average age, taken from your Calf Logging history.
Because a flat weight never changes, last year's weaners are still valued as 220 kg long after they've doubled in size. Turn on Value by age (below the Full valuation table) to value them from how old they are instead:
One date per class is enough because a class normally holds one year-group. A class with no date keeps its flat weight.
When a weaner class reaches 12 months, the panel says so and offers Move to Yearling Steers / Heifers. After you confirm it:
Bull going out. While you have yearling heifers, the same panel shows Move N to Cows (it appears whether or not Value by age is on). Press it in December when the bull goes out with the cows. All your yearling heifers move to Cows — counts, mobs and herd history, exactly as above — so they count in the calving % and are valued as cows. The yearling heifer birth date is cleared, since that class is then empty.
You can use the Market tab to estimate what a draft might be worth before you commit to a sale:
This is an estimate only — your actual result depends on the condition, weight, and quality of your cattle on the day, and on the specific buyers in the room. But it gives you a realistic ballpark before you make the call to sell.