Current seasonal conditions are tough enough for beef producers, but it got a whole lot worse for Justin and Pauline MacDonnell, Wallaroo, Injune, when a bushfire burned a third of their country last week.
The fire flared up last Wednesday, destroying 8704 hectares of their cleared and timbered country. It had escaped a property and travelled into the Carnarvon National Park and then the Boxvale State Forest from last November.
Justin said it needed to be contained as it was jumping existing fire breaks and heading to the Arcadia Valley.
"We had neighbouring landholders, the Upper Dawson Rural Fire Service, Roma Rural Fire Service, and National Park rangers, all helping to bring it under control," he said.
Justin is still running the fire line to monitor it and his fingers are crossed for very welcoming rain soon.
Area director of the Roma Rural Fire Service, Goetz Graf, attended the fire, saying there was a need to understand its behaviour and the wind conditions to bring it under control. "It was unfortunate to happen and an incredibly hot fire," he said.