Boatman's driest year since 1946

The 35,000-hectare property, located deep in the heart of south-west Queensland's mulga belt, received just 183 millimetres of their 425mm average annual rain during 2013.

It was the second driest year since rainfall records began on the historic property in 1909.

Boatman owners, Bill and Carmel Whatmore, have seen their fair share of drought since moving to the property in the mid-1970s but say this one has been the worst for surface water.

"The driest year we had was in 1946 and we had 183.6mm then so it's not far off it," Mr Whatmore said.

"This is the worst drought for water that I have seen and it has been compounded by the fact that we are getting low on mulga.

"We have over 40 dams on this property - we used a bore drain system to partially fill three of them the other day but we still have areas where we have mulga but no water.

"We have been pushing for mulga for 12 months."

The Whatmores were thankful to receive 25mm of rain in January and say that little bit of relief had helped to "freshen up" their precious mulga supplies.

But the daily grind of pushing fodder, shovelling cottonseed and pumping water has certainly taken its toll on the pair, who said January's heatwave was a particular low point.

Mr Whatmore estimates that over half the kangaroo population on Boatman died during the prolonged heatwave.

"The smell all around the property was just horrific," he said.

Mrs Whatmore said it was a distressing sight, even for producers who have been enduring the impact of plague numbers of kangaroos for several seasons.

"They just died in big groups under trees, weak from hunger and full of ticks - it was cruel to see," she said.

"Many were driven into dams that were drying up to try and get a drink and were just piled up on top of each other."

The Whatmore family run a Droughtmaster-cross breeding herd on Boatman and say their herd is holding on.

"We had some stock losses early on in the drought - last year we lost some old cows but they have stabilised a bit now," he said.

"We have spent a lot of money on cottonseed and licks, and are just trying to get through until the market improves and we can offload a few."