How the numbers work.

Only checked data gets published.

Before a report appears, we check the source, date, units, classes, and quoted values. Corrections are recorded as a new version instead of silently rewriting history.

Reported values stay reported values.

A source range, reported average, weighted average, top quote, selected sale, and individual lot are different statistics. We store and label them separately. Missing is not zero, and an unknown head count is not zero head.

Reported range

The low and high values printed by the source for a defined row.

Weighted average

An average explicitly reported with its source weighting—not a midpoint we inferred.

Top quote

A high-end or top-of-market statistic that stays out of ordinary range aggregation.

Units are explicit.

A hundredweight, written cwt, is 100 pounds. For U.S. dollar liveweight quotations, the per-pound value is the per-cwt value divided by 100. Per-head and per-pair prices remain in the exact source-stated or visibly flagged inferred basis; LMP does not turn them into a liveweight value for the calculator, Trends, Compare, or Haul.

When a source omits a unit and a reviewed class-and-table convention supports an interpretation, we label it “Unit inferred by LMP.” The original amounts stay unchanged. The flag explains the assumption, links to the original report, and lets you submit a data concern for review. Inferred units are not confirmation by the auction.

Regional references need enough compatible markets.

Our rule requires at least three separate markets in the same month with matching species, class, weight range, and price type. Cattle appears market by market as soon as reviewed data is published; a Central Texas cattle reference appears only for months that meet that three-market rule. If two reports cover the same sale and livestock family, that sale only counts once.

This is a middle-of-the-market reference, not an appraisal or a volume-weighted sale average. No regional reference is published until enough matching markets are available.

Pulse averages summarize recent quoted prices.

Pulse uses each barn’s latest published sale for the selected species, no more than 35 days before the page’s as-of date. Class, type and weight filters narrow that sale; a missing class does not bring an older sale back into the average. Weight filters include overlapping source bands, without splitting them into invented observations.

We convert liveweight dollars per hundredweight to dollars per pound, use a reported weighted average or average when available, otherwise the midpoint of an ordinary reported range. We average eligible price lines within each barn, then give each barn equal weight in the area figure. This is an average quoted-price reference, not the average animal’s sale price, a volume-weighted result, or the three-market regional reference described above. Different livestock mixes can explain differences between barns.

Cattle’s Auction and USDA figures use equally weighted matching groups when both sources cover the same class, use, breed/type, sex, life stage, grade, original weight boundaries and qualifiers. Only that shared subset is compared; each source first gives barns equal weight within each group. When no groups match, separate figures carry a different-mix warning. Barn figures still describe each barn’s own selected mix. USDA and auction reports of the same barn’s sale do not count twice.

Sheep and goats use San Angelo as a separately labeled benchmark, excluded from the area average even when it is in the selected area. The benchmark follows the same livestock filters and 35-day window, using the same matching-group method as cattle. It remains visible when another area within the state is selected. Missing recent benchmark quotes are shown as not reported.

Per-head, pair, non-liveweight, top, mostly, few, fancy and selected-sale quotes stay out of the pound average. They remain available in source reports. Amounts are rounded only for display; no head counts or animal weights are guessed. Open a barn to inspect its dated report and source.

Monthly Trends give each market equal weight.

For each compatible published observation, Trends uses a source-reported weighted average or average when one is available. Otherwise, an ordinary closed range contributes its calculated midpoint. We first average those references within each market and calendar month, then average the participating market-month values equally so a market with more rows does not outweigh another.

Weight choices match source-reported bands that overlap the selected interval and respect inclusive or exclusive boundaries; the reported band itself is not changed. If a published value requires source verification, Trends leaves that value unchanged in History and shows the affected month as a gap. The dated LMP report and original source remain linked, while period comparisons and AI Data Analysis stay unavailable for the affected series.

The calculator models gross proceeds.

For a compatible per-pound source range, gross low or high equals head count multiplied by weight per head and the corresponding price per pound. Fees, commission, hauling, and shrink are separate deductions and never silently assumed to be zero.