While those in the north have received significant grass-growing summer rainfall, prompting them to hold onto their cattle and make the most of the good season, graziers in the southern half of the state appear to have missed out.
Queensland Country Life spoke to a number of livestock agents around the state to get a gauge on what the season currently looked like in their patch, and how it could impact the cattle market in the coming weeks and months.
Andrew Turner, Ray White Blackall
Ray White Blackall agent Andrew Turner said many producers in his area were experiencing one of their best seasons in many years.
"Some pockets still need a bit more to solidify the season, but most people have had plenty of great grass-growing rain, and for the most part, cattle are doing extremely well," he said.
"It's great to see so much optimism within the district, and people doing a lot of improvements on their properties, which is always a positive indication that the bush is in a good spot."
Blackall will hold their first sale of the year this week, and Mr Turner was optimistic that good quality, local cattle would fetch decent prices.
"People are marketing cattle when they're ready, which is always a great idea because, when you try to read a market as volatile as the current one, you end up with ink on your face," he said.
"They're definitely trying to get as much weight into the cattle as possible, with the seasonal conditions."
Andrew Cavanagh, KellCo Rural Monto and Dalby
KellCo Rural agent Andrew Cavanagh has seen both sides of the coin, working from the Monto district where some producers recorded up to seven inches in January, to the Darling Downs where graziers are desperately calling for rain.
"We've had good general rainfall and grown plenty of grass around Monto, so it looks very good around that part of the world," he said.
"It's haying off now in some areas, but we've been very, very fortunate around our part of the Burnett anyway.
"Further south heading off the Burnett, around Mundubbera, is starting to dry off significantly and they're desperately needing rain too, right across the greater Darling Downs.
"Driving down to the Downs today, you go from the greenscape to the moonscape very, very quickly, unfortunately.
"I've got a few clients around Augathella and Aramac and it's looking very good out there, but apparently you get to Mitchell and it just looks like the tap has turned off completely."
Mr Cavanagh said that the condition of the cattle around the Burnett was generally very good, and there was currently no pressure to offload.
"Cattle are holding their own and are definitely on the do in our area," he said
"Obviously the cattle market everywhere has softened a bit, but the weight in the cattle is making up for it a bit in our area and for those guys selling bullocks, there's no seasonal pressure to sell cattle at the moment."
Julian Laver, Nutrien Rockhampton
After plenty of summer rain in most parts of Central Queensland, Nutrien Rockhampton agent Julian Laver said he has never seen the country looking so good.
"Just from our local scene here, most places are extremely good," he said.
"There's a few little dry areas starting to sneak in around Rocky, or once you get down around Bauhinia and Moura, it's starting to taper off already.
"There's still a fair few people who need a bit of running water for dams before we see the so-called wet season leave us."
Mr Laver said Gracemere was due to hold it's biggest sale of the year on Wednesday, yarding around 3100 head.
"It's been a bit of a slow start to the year, but everywhere has got a lot of feed at the moment," he said.
"The bulk of the job is probably a healthy dollar behind where it was last year, if not a bit more, but by no means are we at the market that we had three years ago.
"Most people have been sitting pretty comfortably because they've got plenty of grass, but we haven't had any rain this month, so that'll get people thinking about now starting to move a few more."
Cyril Close, TopX Roma
The Roma and wider Maranoa districts have missed out on the bulk of the summer rainfall and TopX Roma agent Cyril Close said producers were wary of the dry conditions continuing.
"Going north, we are definitely the driest in the Maranoa, but in saying that there are some pockets of it that aren't too bad," he said.
"The western and north-western edge has had some storms, but east and south of Roma is really where it's missed out.
"It's not really affecting the market yet but people are looking over their shoulder to when the next rain's coming, they'll need some in the next few weeks to get some growth in their grass.
"I have clients who are looking to just be careful and not carry too many cattle into a period where we might not get enough rain to get through."
Mr Close said that numbers have been increasing through the yards with things starting to dry off across the region.
"They've been mainly local cattle, because obviously from away it's been wet and they don't need to be pushed into the market place yet," he said.
"The market has found a pretty stable spot, as far as I'm concerned, over the last four to six weeks.
"It seems to be fluctuating from week to week, five or ten cents either way, and that's really relevant to the different style of cattle that have been coming forward."
Phillip Avery, TopX Cloncurry
After a tough few years, TopX Cloncurry agent Phillip Avery said it was good to see producers in the north-west reaping the benefits of a good season.
"The Barkly Tablelands and around Tennant Creek have had some good rain in the past week, so they're doing alright as well," he said.
The solid rainfall had given people confidence to hold onto their cattle and make the most of the grass and good conditions.
"The market has definitely softened but the exports should start picking up in March and that will take a lot of the Brahman cattle out of the market, which should push it north I think."
