Central west on the brink

Long-time residents say they have never seen the country so parched.

According to Longreach livestock agent Richard Simpson of Simstock, who has lived in the district for 27 years, he has never seen drought in central-western Queensland as bad as now.

"It really is the worst I have seen because there has not been any relief rain, and there has been nowhere for stock to move to," Mr Simpson said.

"When we get relief falls of 20mm or less, the heat and the plagues of grasshoppers move in and destroy any green pick.

"We have experienced a failed wet season for the past three years, and if there is no decent rain by the end of the month, it will put us into our fourth year.

"So time is really running out for us, and the window for drought-breaking rain is closing.

"If there is no decent drought breaking rain by the end of the month, the opportunity is over."

Mr Simpson forecast that if rain failed to arrive by the end of May, most properties in the Winton, Muttaburra, Ilfracombe, Isisford, and western Blackall districts would be destocked.

"Over the past couple of years my clients have been moving the lead of their stock, once they reach weights of 300kg, into feedlots," he said.

"This has allowed them room to shuffle breeders around and spread out on any available grass country."

Seventy-nine-year-old Winton district beef producer Clarrie Hermann, Apsley, is described as 'one of the toughest cattleman in the district' by locals, but conceded the drought had been the toughest he has endured in the past 65 years.

"In the past we have had somewhere to go, and in 2006 I sent my breeders over to the Northern Territory on agistment to save them," Mr Hermann said.

"This time everywhere has been dry and we have only been able to send cattle to the feedlots.

"If it doesn't rain by the end of the month our remaining cattle will go in a bid to save our sheep.

"We will shear in April, and all wethers will be sold about six weeks after that, once they pick up."

Looking further ahead Mr Hermann said that if it still hadn't rained by the end of June, the sheep too, would be sold.

Sheep and wool producer Graham Moffatt at Camoola Park, Longreach, was also trying to save the core of his Braford breeders and sheep.

"We are trying to save 60 breeders and 2000 sheep," Mr Moffatt said.

He has lived at Camoola Park all his life, and described the situation as bad as the drought of 1967-1971 - if not worse. "The situation really got serious here about last September, and that is when destocking got serious too," Mr Moffatt said.

In an average season, Camoola Park carries 200 Braford breeders and progeny, and 6000 sheep.

"We will have another look at the situation at the end of March, and if there is no reprieve we will sell the remaining breeders, and spread the sheep out in a bid to hang on to them," he said.

For Anita Dennis and Joe Taylor at Coolagh, Blackall, the outlook was just as grim. After feeding stock for the past three years, and destocking as well, the stark reality of the drought will bite tomorrow (Friday) when the last 200 of their core Santa Gertrudis/Angus cross breeders are placed for sale on AuctionsPlus.

"We have already sold off some breeders in a paddock sale to a private buyer in the St George district, and these cows are the last, except for a couple of poddies," Ms Dennis said. "We are hoping to save the core of 2000 breeding ewes, and will hang on as long as we can."

Ms Dennis said some central western Queensland producers would have destocked earlier if it hadn't been for the 2011 live cattle export ban. "Seriously, that is when a lot of our problems started, as the northern producers had no markets and were forced south on to our market, and then the drought compounded," she said. "It really wasn't viable for us to sell at the onset of the drought due to the lower prices. Also we all lived in hope that it would rain."

She said grasshoppers plagues too had taken their toll, wiping out any green pick and the soft woody weeds that sheep survived on and cattle would eat as a last resort.

Ms Denis said that when it finally did rain their only option would be to trade their way back into cattle.

"We have a debt and will have to trade our way in and opportunity buy wherever we can," she said.