Understanding Sell Signals

Sell Signals analyze your group’s composition and weight against current USDA auction data to help you decide when and where to sell. This article explains how to use the Sell Signals feature.

How to Get a Sell Signal

1. Navigate to Market Intelligence.
2. Select a group from your herd.
3. The system automatically analyzes the group and generates a recommendation.

What the System Analyzes

When you select a group, Cattle360 evaluates:

• Animal mix — The distribution of animal types and sexes in the group (e.g., 80% steers, 20% heifers).
• Average weight — The group’s average weight, used to match against auction weight brackets.
• Market segment — The dominant animal type determines which USDA commodity to benchmark against.
• Price trends — Comparing 14-day and 28-day moving averages to detect upward or downward momentum.

Signal Indicators

The recommendation includes:

• Price per cwt — The estimated price per hundredweight based on current market conditions.
• Expected gross per head — The estimated revenue per animal at current prices.
• Recommendation reasons — A plain-language explanation of why the system suggests selling now or waiting.
• Hot barns — The top 3 sale barns ranked by head count, indicating the most active auctions.

Estimated vs. Actual Weight

If the group’s average weight is estimated rather than based on actual scale recordings, the system shows a warning. Estimated weights may produce less accurate price benchmarks. Recording actual weights improves the reliability of the recommendation.

Tips

• Weigh your animals before checking sell signals. Actual weight data produces the most accurate results.
• Check sell signals regularly. Market conditions change weekly. Reviewing signals over time helps you spot the best window to sell.
• Compare across groups. If you have multiple groups ready to sell, check each one to see which has the strongest market position.