Cattle producers keen to figure market trends at Blackall sales into their decision-making will soon have the confidence of reports from the Meat and Livestock Association's newest livestock market officer to draw on.
Sam Hart, who made the central western Queensland town his permanent home at the start of 2017, has begun an intense 10 weeks of training under the tutelage of Trevor Hess at Dalby, Roma and Warwick sales, to understand what elements are captured and how market movements are reported.
MLA's livestock market officers manager Brendan Wade said Blackall was proving itself to be an important market in the centre of the state, and people were wanting to know what was happening via an independent source.
"We think the market deserves it, and the agents there were very receptive to us doing it," he said. "We need to capture that market and the benefit of the MLA's national livestock reporting service is that it's independent information."
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In the 2016/17 financial year some 107,974 cattle went through the Blackall yards, either sold, spelled or weighed.
The number decreased in the 2017/18 year to 86,374 but was back up in 2018/19 to 130,636 head.
The best year for the yards was 2009, when 168,000 head were processed through.
Some 55,339 cattle have been through the yards in the first three months of this financial year.
Mr Wade said it had been good to find someone for the job that was a local with a fair bit of livestock experience.
Mr Hart started with Landmark in 2012, spending seven months at Dalby before moving to Blackall.
In July 2017 he moved back to his home town of Forbes, NSW for 18 months, before returning to Blackall to work with Tim Ludgate and Barcoo Pastoral Agencies, finishing up in June this year.
"The MLA job is a good opportunity to stay informed with the market," he said.
"It's a fairly important role in that it gives timely access to information that's important to the producer.
"It's good to see the MLA has recognised the strength of the central west market.
"There are good numbers going through the yards - they're going from strength to strength."
Mr Hart anticipated making his first report for the national livestock reporting service in November before gearing up for the full 2020 season.