However, there are certainly many producers who have destocked a large portion of their herds and are sitting in a "holding pattern" waiting for the rain.

One such cattle producer is Gordon Dillon of Green Gully, who only a month ago was selling cattle at the Carcoar store cattle sale to reduce his feed bill.

Now, with some rain in the gauge he said the situation was improving, but there was still a way to go before he could stop hand feeding.

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"The drought in the 1980's was worse (than this one) for us," he said. "I remember we sold cattle at Blayney sale for 0.2c/kg and was $8 behind once the carrier was paid.

"This drought is different in that cattle are worth money and if you sell them before they get too low in condition you can still make good money."

Mr Dillon said in a normal year Green Gully would run 200 breeders, but right now there were 140 females being hand fed.

"Two years ago we cut 1000 bales of hay and normally that would be enough to see us through a dry time. Not this time. We've used all that and are now buying feed," he said.

"I try to keep my heifers each year, but this year they all had to be sold. The steers all went at 12 to 14 months too."

But Mr Dillon was adamant he would retain his core breeding cows which were based on stud Poll Hereford bloodline and too valuable to lose.

"We used to run a Poll Hereford stud, so the cows are pretty good quality," he said.

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"I guess we are in a pretty good position still financially 'cause we don't owe money on the property, so we are not servicing a loan while trying to feed our stock. Once the drought breaks we will be straight back into breeding up our cow herd again.

"Cattle are going to get pretty dear when the season improves, but we don't plan to have to find that extra cash to build up our herd."

Originally published in The Land.

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