Good time to be in the game

But, I may have been a little biased after jumping off a header and watching the yield monitor read between 6 tonnes a hectare and a whopping 8.7t/ha on a barley crop.

It's hard to be negative after seeing such results, even in the absence of good spring rain.

Phenomenal results like this mean livestock can find it hard to compete with cropping in the region.

But, it's good to see that livestock is still the backbone for many EP producers, and a crucial tool for risk mitigation.

Speaking of good news stories, there are plenty to come out of our markets section this week.

The Mount Pleasant first cross ewe and off-shears sale on Wednesday last week made up to $244, $24 up on last year's top price.

And, Naracoorte's prestigious blue-ribbon first-cross ewe sales topped at $286, $30 up on last year's top.

The James family, Coolawang Pastoral Company, Mundulla, continued to shine, winning the blue ribbon for best-presented pen, as well as topping the market.

It was the seventh time in 11 years they have won the award.

Meanwhile, cattle markets have seen an unprecedented swing upwards.

Prices have been on a rollercoaster for the past 40 days in the Australian cattle market.

The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator peaked at $5.95 a kilogram carcaseweight on September 29, and then began to rapidly decline.

It hit $5.17/kg on October 20 - a 78 cents/kg drop in only three weeks.

But, by the end of last week it was back at $5.91/kg, recovering almost all of its lost ground from October.

While the recent fall was the largest three-week c/kg drop in the EYCI's history, it was not unprecedented as similar falls have been recorded before, and one usually seasonally related.

But, the magnitude of the recovery, following such a large price drop, has never been witnessed since the benchmark indicator was first reported in 1996.

MLA market information manager Ben Thomas said the weather was a major factor leading to this bounce-back.

"That's basically the reason that had caused the market to fall down quite quickly," he said.

"There had been a rapid decline in seasonal conditions, due to a burst of hot and dry weather, particularly across southern states, which affected producer confidence."

But, fairly widespread rains across the eastern states had led to a jump in confidence, and therefore prices.

"The eastern third of Qld, the eastern half of NSW and parts of Vic had some damn good rainfall recently," he said.

"It has brought confidence back into the market, from a restocking point of view."