One thing is for sure as Winton's drought committee meets to deliberate its recommendations on the shire's drought status - it is unlikely to ask for the shire to be removed from the state's drought list.
The situation Eugenie Cluff is in typifies that of many of the landholders there and further west.
Ms Cluff lives on the 6720 hectare property Gideon Park, 17 kilometres south of the town, but at the end of the normal summer wet season has only 50 head of cattle running on the property.
Another 100 head are away on agistment.
"The first paddock is okay - it got the rain that Winton got - but as you get to the house, it's not good," she said.
"It's been going on like this since I got here 15 years ago - we've not had a run of good seasons."
Ms Cluff's property is one of the many hit by grasshopper attacks early in the year, which she said had wiped out the grass on half the place.
While trying to manage the very variable rain pattern, ranging from 7mm to 40mm across the property in the last fall, she knows from her relief job delivering mail on a run out to Middleton once a week that many others are in a similar position.
"I'm away for eight hours on the run, and there's some green feed just out of town," she said.
"From there on it's very patchy and apparently it's worse as you get towards Boulia.
"I believe there's bare dirt in places out there."
Ms Cluff said she was resigned to downsizing her herd more when they returned from agistment shortly, and to feeding once again, but she'd just like two decent wet seasons in a row.
It's a similar story of grasshopper damage and just enough rain to grow weeds for Jason and Kerry Turnbull at Oondooroo Station, north of Winton.
"People are saying it's a good season at last but we've had no general rain," Mr Turnbull said.
What makes it harder to bear is that a few kilometres to the east, near-neighbours such as Bob Elliott at Belmont were growing the highest Flinders grass they'd ever seen after follow-up rain at Easter.
"Going on for six years, we've not had a good season," Mr Turnbull said.
"Even in 2019 there was all that rain but no follow-up."
As well as being among those who lost cattle and sheep to hypothermia, the monsoon rain took away a lot of topsoil, exposing the roots of the clumps of grass.
"A hungry cow could rip that out by the roots," Mr Turnbull said.
They could run up to 1200 head in a good season but have been averaging 400 steers a year, and are now down to 70 head on 12,140ha.
State Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said local drought committees were meeting now and into early May to asses local conditions, and then make recommendations on drought declarations.
"That advice takes rain, pasture conditions, soil and other factors into consideration," he said.
"Recent rains do not necessarily mean a drought declaration will be lifted."
At the moment 67.4 per cent of Queensland is drought declared, and Mr Furner wouldn't be drawn on whether that might be reduced.
"We are working closely with industry to modernise and strengthen the drought declaration process, while ensuring longer lasting benefits from our drought support programs," he said.
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Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
