diff --git a/ChangeLog.txt b/ChangeLog.txt
index d0b7a8a0..5482e7ee 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.txt
+++ b/ChangeLog.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
   environments like kubernetes. Closes #3461.
 - Fix inconsistent disconnect log message format, and add address:port.
 - Fix `plugin`/`global_plugin` option not allowing space characters.
+- Fix $SYS load values not being published initially. Closes #3459.
 
 # Plugins
 - Fix incorrect linking of libmosquitto_common.so for the acl and password
diff --git a/src/sys_tree.c b/src/sys_tree.c
index 4bcab89d..a0203553 100644
--- a/src/sys_tree.c
+++ b/src/sys_tree.c
@@ -151,9 +151,25 @@ time_t broker_uptime(void)
 }
 
 
+static void calc_load(char *buf, double exponent, double i_mult, struct metric_load *m, bool force)
+{
+	double new_value;
+	uint32_t len;
+	double interval;
+
+	interval = (double)(metrics[m->load_ref].next - metrics[m->load_ref].current)*i_mult;
+	new_value = interval + exponent*(m->current - interval);
+	if(fabs(new_value - (m->current)) >= 0.01 || force){
+		len = (uint32_t)snprintf(buf, BUFLEN, "%.2f", new_value);
+		db__messages_easy_queue(NULL, m->topic, SYS_TREE_QOS, len, buf, 1, MSG_EXPIRY_INFINITE, NULL);
+	}
+	m->current = new_value;
+}
+
+
 void sys_tree__init(void)
 {
-	char buf[64];
+	char buf[BUFLEN];
 	uint32_t len;
 
 	if(db.config->sys_interval == 0){
@@ -168,6 +184,17 @@ void sys_tree__init(void)
 	last_update = start_time;
 
 	sys_tree__update(true);
+
+	/* Force published load values to 0 */
+	for(int i=0; i<mosq_metric_load_max; i++){
+		if(metric_loads[i].interval == METRIC_LOAD_1MIN){
+			calc_load(buf, 0.0, 0.0, &metric_loads[i], true);
+		}else if(metric_loads[i].interval == METRIC_LOAD_5MIN){
+			calc_load(buf, 0.0, 0.0, &metric_loads[i], true);
+		}else{
+			calc_load(buf, 0.0, 0.0, &metric_loads[i], true);
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 
@@ -187,22 +214,6 @@ void metrics__int_dec(enum mosq_metric_type m, int64_t value)
 }
 
 
-static void calc_load(char *buf, double exponent, double i_mult, struct metric_load *m)
-{
-	double new_value;
-	uint32_t len;
-	double interval;
-
-	interval = (double)(metrics[m->load_ref].next - metrics[m->load_ref].current)*i_mult;
-	new_value = interval + exponent*(m->current - interval);
-	if(fabs(new_value - (m->current)) >= 0.01){
-		len = (uint32_t)snprintf(buf, BUFLEN, "%.2f", new_value);
-		db__messages_easy_queue(NULL, m->topic, SYS_TREE_QOS, len, buf, 1, MSG_EXPIRY_INFINITE, NULL);
-	}
-	m->current = new_value;
-}
-
-
 /* Send messages for the $SYS hierarchy if the last update is longer than
  * 'interval' seconds ago.
  * 'interval' is the amount of seconds between updates. If 0, then no periodic
@@ -257,11 +268,11 @@ void sys_tree__update(bool force)
 
 			for(int i=0; i<mosq_metric_load_max; i++){
 				if(metric_loads[i].interval == METRIC_LOAD_1MIN){
-					calc_load(buf, exponent_1min, i_mult, &metric_loads[i]);
+					calc_load(buf, exponent_1min, i_mult, &metric_loads[i], false);
 				}else if(metric_loads[i].interval == METRIC_LOAD_5MIN){
-					calc_load(buf, exponent_5min, i_mult, &metric_loads[i]);
+					calc_load(buf, exponent_5min, i_mult, &metric_loads[i], false);
 				}else{
-					calc_load(buf, exponent_15min, i_mult, &metric_loads[i]);
+					calc_load(buf, exponent_15min, i_mult, &metric_loads[i], false);
 				}
 			}
 		}