Third time unlucky?

As that crucial mid-February rain date came and went, the couple made the hard decision that they needed to unload even more, and put their Dohne/Merino-cross flock up for sale on AuctionsPlus.

In the past three years, since February 2012, the property has recorded just 325mm (13 inches) of rain. "It sucks," Carley said.

"Everything was in lamb. We did everything right - had bodyweights right up there - but it just hasn't rained. This sort of life is such a gamble. We're realists but it's hard to convince ourselves at the moment that grazing on a small scale is a money-making venture."

Rio itself is 12,000 acres (4856 hectares) and another 12,000 acres are leased from Nicholas' parents.

"We've lived here for only eight years but it's been in the family since 1975, and no records show three failed wet seasons," he said.

The cattle herd, based on Strathmore Santa Gertrudis bloodlines, was sold a year ago when rain failed to materialise.

The couple are unsure what their immediate future holds, but it is likely they will have to mothball the property and seek work elsewhere.

"It's definitely on the agenda that we might have to move," Carley said. "The overheads running a property are so huge, and we can't sell at the moment.

"Unless we do something like that, we're just looking at a big black hole that our money will disappear into."

Even if it does rain sufficiently in coming days or weeks, the Walkers say a whole wet season rest will be necessary to ensure pastures fully recover.

Dams and surface water catchments will also need to fill.

The water-infrastructure subsidy available through state drought-relief measures was a great help in 2014 when all Rio's dams dried up. It enabled them to put in a solar pump, plus 4.5km of pipes and tanks, to plug into existing infrastructure.

Without it, they would have been selling their sheep six months earlier, at much reduced prices. They were also grateful for the hay donations from Aussie Helpers and Buy a Bale that gave their remaining stock complementary roughage.

Alongside that, they were putting money into M4U lick for weaner lambs, as well as cottonseed for ewes to get them to an ideal joining weight.

"We don't see it as worthwhile to feed indefinitely, waiting for rain that may or may not come," Carley said.

"Having said that, we will feed if it is to a deadline and for a specific purpose.

"For example, we kept all weaner lambs in the yard until they were 18kg and this meant months of lucerne and pellets, labour and animal husbandry."

Supplements and patchy falls of rain in December and January got their sheep through to shearing at the start of February.

They were happy to see their sheep go to restockers at Trangie and Bourke in NSW.

While they say any return to grazing is likely to be via agistment, judging the risks of owning their own flock as too high, they know there is something about green paddocks buzzing with life that is addictive.

Hopefully they get their hit of rain and green grass before the withdrawal is complete.