From the start to the finish of 2015, Queensland cattle prices have not stopped jumping.

As the year wraps up and cattle sales finish for the year, cattle have reached up to six dollars a kilogram live weight, which is a new record for commercial cattle.

The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator has also finished the year on a high.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 48 seconds 4 m 48 s Lydia Burton wraps up the highs and lows of the Queensland cattle market for 2015 ( Lydia Burton ) Download 2.2 MB

It was two-dollars a kilogram higher than the end of 2014, with a top of 587 cents per kilo carcass weight.

Meat and Livestock Australia's manager of market information, Ben Thomas, said it had been a positive finish to the year.

"At the close of markets last year it was at 376 cents and that was at the end of what had been a couple of weeks of steady growth," he said.

However, not all cattle producers had been so lucky.

Drought-stricken producers in Western Queensland have had to de-stock properties and therefore could not cash in on the high prices or afford to re-stock cattle herds.

Birdsville producer Geoff Morton was one of those people.

The few bullocks that I do have means that they are worth selling now [but] when I had vast numbers of cattle they were hardly worth selling, in fact some of them became income-negative," Mr Morton said.

"As usual, when you have not got any cattle the prices are good."

Saleyards in the west of the state also reported one of the toughest years on record.

Longreach has not held an auction since May, 2014.

Livestock agent Bill Seeney said it was the year "that was not".

"I've been here fifteen years and I've never seen it like this; we only had three sales last year and no sales this year and all purely due to season," he said.

Tightening herd supplies have also seen meat processors close up to four weeks earlier than usual.

Teys Australia spokesperson Tom Maguire said record slaughter rates had been a major factor in decisions to close early.

"To put it simply, we have either live exported or killed next year's cattle with some of this year's... the cattle simply are not there to process," he said.

That predicament has left many wondering whether prices could go even higher in 2016.