I KNEW it would happen, the drought in northern SA has broken, at least temporarily.
The noise you can hear from pastoralists who have suffered for years through lack of rainfall is not a cheer of joy, but more a sigh of relief.
It's hard for southerners to imagine how heartbreaking it must be to operate a cattle or sheep station through years of drought and deprivation.
The pain of destocking or sending portions of the herd, or flock, away on agistment, not to mention the cost must be an exercise that would tax the resilience of the most hardy of our pastoral brigade. The financial devastation and the toll on families is unimaginable.
If anyone needed to understand the meaning of this significant rain event they should have listened to ABC radio last Saturday morning.
The presenter, Leigh Radford, was broadcasting rainfall figures as people phoned them in and he interviewed a few of those who called.
One was Macumba Station's Eddie Nunn, despite his matter of fact manner of speaking there was no mistaking that under his laconic surface there was so much relief at the 115 millimetres received. This elation could be heard bubbling its way uncontrollably to the surface.
As many will know, I live at Melrose and rain isn't exactly a commodity in short supply in a normal year.
An average rainfall of about 650mm is as impressive as any in the Upper North and Mid North so it's no great surprise to get 100mm in a day, as we did last Friday.
It is a very relaxing pastime sitting in the local bowls club, drinking 'happy hour' priced schooners and watching the rain tumble down.
The ramifications of this rain will have long lasting effects on livestock prices, according to unconfirmed reports the breadth of these falls will curtail the movement of any sale stock from the north of SA and the Western Districts of NSW.
Considering the length of the drought and the pastoral country's ability to grow feed rapidly livestock traffic is far more likely to venture away from saleyards as graziers attempt to restock.
The million dollar question for cattle breeders in particular is how much will people be prepared to pay to secure cows, heifers or anything that will turn a dollar?
We already know that the Australian herd has dropped to a level not seen since the 1970s and that sales of chilled, frozen and live beef exports are experiencing unprecedented highs.
So where are store cattle going to come from?
The poor finish to the winter and spring of 2014 combined with high prices for cows meant that an extraordinary amount of breeders were culled and slaughtered.
Weaner and breeder sales have been buoyant prior to this rain, and significant rains in Qld and NSW will restrict any long distance buying efforts.
So many pastoralists will be faced with the painfully slow task of breeding their way back to reasonable numbers and financial viability.
So, while we sit and have a quiet whinge about the rampant growth of inedible weeds sprouting out of stubble paddocks, and the accompanying cost of the spray needed to combat them to maintain subsoil moisture, spare a thought for the graziers who need this rain so desperately.