MLA fills data gaps with two new indicators
26 June 2025
Key points:
- Meat & Livestock Australia has launched two new indicators to fill livestock coverage gaps.
- The Feeder Heifer Indicator tracks feedlot-purchased heifers over 200kg.
- The Online Sheep Indicator captures online restocker sheep sales (ewes and wethers).
Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA) National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) has released two new pricing indicators, the National Feeder Heifer Indicator (NFHI) and the Online Sheep Indicator (OSI). Their release will broaden MLA’s indicator offering, filling coverage gaps across sales channels and commodities. Both indicators have been backdated with over two decades of data, enabling immediate long-range analysis.
The National Feeder Heifer Indicator
The National Feeder Heifer Indicator will provide saleyard pricing and supply coverage of heifers above 200kg purchased by lot feeders. Heifers entering feedlots tend to perform best on short-fed programs focused on consistency in weight gain and quality. These programs generally support beef destined for the domestic retail market.
Trends in the supply of heifers into feedlots will be available through the analysis of long-term data. When reviewing the National Feeder Steer Indicator and National Feeder Heifer Indicator, each indicator’s specifications are a mirror of the other. For cattle +200kg under the feeder prefix (feedlot buyer), the proportion of heifer throughput is cyclical.
Heifers have contributed to over 40% of saleyard 2025 purchases by feedlots, demonstrating significant throughput into the indicator. In rebuild periods, fewer heifers enter feedlots through saleyards due to lower supply. For example, in 2022 the heifer throughput of 35%.
Price dynamics are a significant driver of feedlots purchasing more heifers. Below, we can see feedlots are capitalising on margin opportunity and favouring heifers when the price gap with steers is more substantial. This aligns with the total supply of female cattle, which in turn matched destock and rebuild trends.
Online Sheep Indicator
The Online Sheep Indicator will be MLA’s first restocker/breeder sheep indicator using data from the online marketplace. The indicator covers ewes and wethers of all weights, broken down by region and breed.
Restocker sheep throughput is limited in saleyards, so by online coverage, MLA will be able to provide insights into the supply and pricing trends of breeder sheep.
While current throughput in this indicator is relatively small, it will thrive when the sheep sector exits the current liquidation phase and enters a strong, long rebuild.
Extended historic indicator dataset can be accessed through the Australian Livestock Indicators page on our Statistics Database.
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The National Livestock Reporting System The National Livestock Reporting System (NLRS) reports on over 50 physical saleyard markets producing 18 price indicators. These indicators, along with accompanying market reports, drive more than 70% of MLA website traffic and cover approximately 25% of all livestock transactions. After identifying a gap in the reporting market in 2023, the NLRS and Market Information offering was expanded to report online livestock transaction data. It captures the online market through the Online Young Cattle Indicator (OYCI) and the Online Lamb Indicator (OLI). Following the valuable release of these online indicators, MLA developed a true restocker cattle indicator, the National Young Cattle Indicator (NYCI), combining both sales channels. The National Feeder Heifer Indicator and Online Sheep Indicator will now close the channels/category offering. |
Attribute to: Erin Lukey, MLA Senior Market Information Analyst
