Winton beef producers find strength for rebuild day-by-day

Tahnee and husband Ross lost about 90 per cent of their 1000-head herd in the aftermath of a downpour that brought 560 millimetres of rain to their property.

Every day there were new challenges and obstacles to overcome and it quickly became "overwhelming" to think too far into the future, Mrs Oakhill said.

"It's literally a day by day thing," she said.

"The anxiety seems to settle in every day at a different point.

"You try to focus on the work but you realise how far behind you are again after the drought, and if you think too far ahead it gets overwhelming."

The Oakhills had stocked their property with steers in the months before the floods and had planned to offload them at the end of February.

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"We had bought steers about six months ago and put them in one of our better paddocks in anticipation of a quick turnaround," Mrs Oakhill said at the time of the floods.

"We would've sold at the end of February to prop us up."

Now, the Oakhills are focused on re-stocking their property again and slowly rebuilding their herd.

"The ultimate goal is to buy buck some cows, build up the herd and get a cash injection that way," Mrs Oakhill said.

Since the floods there had been a steady stream of visitors coming to check up on Bernfels as well as constant offers of help from friends and family.

"Some days you're guns blazing and the next day you're overwhelmed.

"There's still a lot to go and a lot to come.

"But the constant support form people is what gets you through."

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Having young children who were still passionate about the property and living on the land also helped, Mrs Oakhill said.

"We are still just as behind as ever, and thinking about the motivation to start again is where the anxiety kicks in.

"But the kids are still wanting to get back out to the place and that makes you want to do it for them."

To make ends meet while slowly restocking, Ross has been driving machinery on other properties while Tahnee has been working in town as a production runner on an ABC TV drama filming in Winton.

Although there had been no shortage of tough times, especially dealing with dead stock immediately after the floods, there have also been some lighter moments on the property.

"We found 33 survivors in the neighbour's paddock at the end of March," Mrs Oakhill said.

"That was like Christmas for us. We expected four or five stragglers when we got the call.

"To find we had 33 over there was pretty amazing. They are our little champions.

"Things like that teach you it's OK to hope a little bit sometimes."

They had also recently taken a delivery of 100 head of cattle from Biloela.

"We got 100 head form Biloela that we'd had in the pipeline for a while and had been holding off on after the flood.

"They're out there now and everything that survived is looking nice and fat and shiny, which is good to see."

Queensland Country Life has documented this story and plenty of others in our souvenir edition available on Thursday, May 30.

Be sure to pick up your copy to commemorate this monumental event in our state's history.