We’re getting towards the pointy end of Beef Central’s incredibly popular ‘Guess the value of the EYCI by year’s end’ competition, launched back on 2 February.

Readers at the time were asked to nominate where the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator would sit by early December, with hundreds of entries flowing in from across Australia before the competition closed on 4 March.

The optimists and pessimist among us meant the range of guesses was enormous – the low point being 355c/kg, and the highest, 1080c/kg.

With less than a month left before the winners are announced on December 2, the EYCI this morning sits at 614.8c/kg. Widespread rain – or the lack of it – could still have a significant impact on the final result, so even if your guess is currently a little wide of the mark, don’t give up hope.

As this follow-up article by agribusiness consultant Ian McLean from Bush Agribusiness showed, after entries closed back in March, the most popular choices among readers came in a range from 650-800c/kg.

The 2024 year has proven to be unusually stable for the EYCI, trading in a relatively narrow band this year between 692c/kg (28 August) and 541c (8 January) – a spread of 151c in ten months. Compare that with the 2023 year, when the range was an alarmingly volatile 436c/kg, extending from 785c to 349c at different times of year.

There’s major bragging rights – and great prizes – at stake for the winner of Beef Central’s EYCI prediction competition. Here’s what’s on offer for the winner and the runner-up to be announced next month:

• An oilskin riding coat (full length or three-quarter, winner’s choice) from high quality Australian apparel manufacturer Claybourn, western outfitters since 1910 (retail value $659). Claybourn produces a wide range of country style jackets, vests, coats, shirts, chinos and pants, caps, accessories and other gear. Click here to learn more about the colourful history of the Claybourn brand, items from which appeared on Beef Central’s trade display at Beef 2024 in May.
• A bottle of Penfolds 389 Shiraz (the poor man’s Grange) for the runner-up.

The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) is the Australian beef industry’s most widely used cattle market indicator. It is calculated based on a seven-day rolling average of young cattle prices (vealer and yearling heifers and steers 200-400kg liveweight, scores C2 and C3) from 23 saleyards across Queensland, NSW and Victoria. It is expressed in c/kg carcase weight.

At any point in time, a seven-day rolling average includes data from the past seven calendar days. In the case of the EYCI, the dataset takes the average ¢/kg cwt of an animal matching the specifications of the indicator per day for the past week, adds them up and divides the figure by seven. The indicator is updated daily to create a rolling average value for this specification of animal.

For readers wanting to check on their guess from earlier in the year, or see how others are going, click here to view the original report, including reader comments containing guesses (other guesses registered with us by email and text).

Also click here to view Ian McLean’s commentary around the wide range of guesses made by stakeholders.

• Keep a look-out for Beef Central’s 2025 EYCI guessing competition, starting next February.