Merriwa (NSW) cattle producer David Alker is this year’s winner of Beef Central’s popular ‘Guess the EYCI level by year’s end’ competition.

Mr Alker’s prediction of 865c/kg (carcase weight equivalent) was just 2.36c away from the designated final figure of 863.14, measured at the close of business yesterday, Tuesday 9 December.

Back at the start of the year, Beef Central called on readers to have a go at picking the level of the EYCI by year’s end, with hundreds of entries rolling in by the deadline in early February.

David and family run about 1000 Angus breeding cows on their property Tarnuk, near Merriwa.

Several other readers finished close by, with Northern Territory reader Val Dyer’s guess of 856.9c good enough for the runner-up position, just 6.24c from the mark. Third was Tom Honner, who guessed the indicator’s final position at 876.55c.

There’s some handsome prizes heading the way of this year’s winner and runner up.

In addition to the serious bragging rights, David Alker wins a $650 voucher to spend with this year’s competition sponsor, S.Kidman Australia clothing and apparel.

David said he has an S.Kidman retail outlet in nearby Tamworth, and was excited to hear the news about his win after a hard day in the yards earlier today.

While S. Kidman will always be linked to its cattle empire roots, the company is evolving. S. Kidman has this year expanded into a new frontier – a premium, heritage-inspired clothing and footwear range that captures the essence of the outback. It’s a celebration of Australia’s traditions, its landscapes, and the hardworking fantastic Australians who make it what it is.

Kidman produces a wide range of high quality boots, hats, chinos and pants, shirts, caps, accessories, plus oilskin jackets, vests and coats via Driza-Bone.

Asked whether he was optimistic about where the EYCI might go back at the start of the year, winner David Aker said he watched the indicator daily – “a bit like the all ordinaries index on the stock exchange.”

“It’s a broad-spectrum look at the whole market that I find very useful,” he said.

The 2025 year has again proven just how volatile Australian cattle markets can be, with a massive 300c/kg difference in young cattle prices contributing to the EYCI between the year’s low point back in January (610c, sinking again to 630c/kg in February), before mounting a dramatic recovery from mid-July.

Like many, David is cautiously optimistic about prospects for the year ahead.

“All the analysts appear pretty bullish about 2026 and 2027. That may well come to fruition – it’s always better to hear that than the opposite, but whether it gets to those levels, only time will tell,” he said.

“We’re optimistic ourselves, bit it’s just gotten incredibly dry where we are on the past eight weeks, after a fabulous season all the way through 2024 and most of 2025,” David said.

“We’re in sell-mode right now, and have had some very good weaner sales in the past three weeks on AuctionsPlus – and more going up this Friday trying to catch that pre-Christmas shut-down.”

David agreed it was always easier to sell cattle heading into dry conditions on a strong market like this year.

“I don’t necessarily think we are heading into drought, but it’s certainly gotten very sour, very quickly here, with a lot of  heat during spring and a huge amount of westerly winds to dry things out, quite dramatically,” he said.

“But anybody with green grass under them would be pretty bullish, heading into 2026, I’d reckon.”