As the beef industry prepares to gather for its pinnacle showcase event, it would be fair to say the road to Beef in 2021 has been like no other before it.
In the three years since the gates closed on the last Beef Australia event - an event that recorded an attendance of more than 100,000 people and injected close to $85 million into the economy - the industry has been through unprecedented times.
The impacts of a global pandemic aside, beef producers have stared down extreme weather events, watched the commercial cattle market's upward trajectory, and seen stud cattle consistently hit record prices and averages.
Leaving behind the lights of the beef capital in 2018, many producers returned home to dry paddocks.
At the time, 57 per cent of Queensland was drought declared and that area continued to expand until late 2019 when 67.4pc of the state was either partly or fully drought declared.
For New South Wales, 2018 saw close to 100pc of the state in one of three drought categories. At the end of August of that year, an estimate of drought intensity by the NSW DPI Climate Unit put 30pc of the state as drought affected, 54pc in drought and 16pc in intense drought.
By mid 2019, scientists confirmed that it was drier in parts of NSW, Queensland, central South Australia, Tasmania and much of Western Australia in December 2018 than at the height of the Millennium drought.
For NSW, the grip of drought has eased and 94pc of the state is believed to be in recovery or non-drought status, but Queensland's status remains at 67.4pc.
The land of droughts and flooding rains proved its ability to shift from one extreme to another in February 2019, when the welcome relief of much-needed rain in north west Queensland quickly turned to pain for many graziers.
An area the size of Victoria was inundated by floodwaters that resembled a vast inland sea. Stock losses were estimated at more than 500,000, with cattle, sheep and goats all succumbing to both the flood, and the bitter chill that swept the land in the days that followed.
Against the backdrop of natural disasters, the beef industry rallied through the market highs and lows of the past three years.
Dry conditions across the eastern states resulted in a record number of cattle on feed for 2018, consistently sitting above 1 million head.
The records continued in 2019, when the number of cattle on feed was sustained at over 1.1 million head. Numbers also defied expectations in 2020, to hold above the million mark.
Meanwhile, the eastern young cattle indicator averaging 511 cents per kilogram carcase weight in 2018 was a far cry from today. Sitting on a similar plane in 2019, 'record-breaking territory' became the theme of 2020.
Opening in January at 486.75c, analysts were touting the EYCI could reach 800c if big rain arrived.
By the end of September, the EYCI had set a new record at least half a dozen times, including four times in the one week, and was barrelling towards the 800c mark on the back of so much understocked country and ripper seasonal forecasts.
The peak was reached in late November when the EYCI hit 829c. As they did in 2020, young cattle have once again led buying trends to begin 2021. With restockers continuing to pay premiums, the EYCI to date in 2021, peaked in early February at 888c.
This confidence in the commercial market flowed through to stud sales, when every other week seemed to herald a rewrite of the history books. From the variable markets of 2018 and 2019, the six-figure highs in 2020 were nothing short of thrilling.
Though not out of the norm as the year carried on, the willingness by more and more producers to make such substantial investments was still surprising for sale-goers.
In the end, it all boiled down to confidence; the talk of, and movements towards, a herd rebuild; and, the whole-of-industry drive to improve quality. And if nothing else, it's a recipe that will ensure the conversations around the stud cattle rings and at the bars at Beef 2021 are anything but boring.
