Sunburnt paddocks cracked and veined from years of drought have finally started to show signs of life in outback Queensland.
But for some graziers living in the central-west, despite good rainfall this year, they will not be benefiting from the deluge after a boom in insects decimated their properties.
Peter Crombie, who lives at Drumlion Station between Longreach and Winton, received about nine inches of rain since January but said grasshoppers had destroyed his pastures.
"We thought we were home and hosed and it'd been one of the best seasons we've had for the last six years and then the grasshoppers came through and cleaned us out," Mr Crombie said.
"We finally had the kind of follow up rain that has the potential to grow a lot of feed and we thought we could sort of relax for a while … but yeah we got nothing."
Further destocking despite rain
During good seasons, Drumlion Station has a carrying capacity of 2,000 head of cattle.
But the property has been in drought since 2013 and Mr Crombie has had to reduce his stock numbers to 450 head of cattle.
"We've just been selling them off you know as a matter of fact we had to get in so quickly and sell them off because we didn't have anything for them to eat," said Mr Crombie.
Loading..."Even the poddies and pets have had to be taken away because around the house there's just nothing.
"We're probably going to sell another 300 in the next couple of weeks."
Where the Mitchell grass has survived, Mr Crombie said it was important for the country to regrow in those areas.
"That grass needs time to repair and get healthy again and we've got to give it every chance to survive until the next rain which'll probably be January February next year," he said.
"We won't be making any money out of this place, not this year anyway."
Insect boom across the central-west
Jenny Milson, from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, said grasshoppers had ripped through properties around Hughenden, Winton and Muttaburra.
"The grasshoppers have caused absolute decimation on some properties and probably reduced the pasture yield by 20 to 30 per cent for others," Ms Milson said.
"It's almost wiped out their pasture for the year and basically means that producers will have to reduce stocking numbers and for some of them they'll have to destock completely."
But grasshoppers were not the only setback graziers faced after the rain.
Ms Milson said a native flea beetle, never recorded in the region, had been affecting the growth of pasture around Aramac, Ilfracombe and Barcaldine.
"It's actually chewing back the leaves and that's making that plant more susceptible to infection from fungi and bacteria so those plants themselves are really looking quite sick," Ms Milson said.
"The native flea beetles have been more prevalent in an area that didn't receive that end of January [and] early February rain but did receive rain at the end of March."
Wool producer David Counsell, from Dunblane Station between Barcaldine and Longreach, said it would mean a difficult winter ahead.
"Normally we'd see our grasses up about 2 feet, but at the moment all these plants are only about 2-3 inches off the ground," Mr Counsell said.
"They've completely stopped growing and all the ground is dead around them — it's quite a distinct look."
Hope for the season to come
To the untrained eye, Dunblane Station looks it had a lot of grass, Mr Counsell said.
"But in reality, when you get out of the car and have a look around, you can see that it's all just native herbages and weeds … things that'll all dry off as soon as it gets warm," he said.
"If not by September, by the start of October we'll be really scratching ourselves to find something to feed our animals."
Mr Counsell said he was still hopeful of a positive outcome despite knowing food for his sheep was scarce.
"It might rain before then and any rain event will grow something for us and we'll stumble through to Christmas time with a bit of luck," he said.