Australia Weather News

As north Queensland's devastating rains moved west, they brought something unexpected with them — hope. 

Graziers on the brink of drought say the late monsoonal wet that destroyed towns, roads, and farms on the coast may prove to be their saviour.

It is a remarkable turnaround for producers like Sam Fryer from Hughenden, about 400 kilometres south-west of Townsville, who sold stock in January due to a lack of feed.

Mr Fryer said rain meant the pressure was off.

"I think now [we'll just be] sitting on our hands for a while and watching the grass grow," he said.

Others like him can now keep their animals, with follow-up rain in the coming weeks expected to help grow pastures that had burned off in the dry.

"Hopefully we do get some more follow-up for everyone out there to really help the season and help the industry right across the north," Mr Fryer said.

Global opportunities

In mid-January, just before the rains came, more than 90,000 head of cattle were sold in markets around Australia, the largest weekly sale in the past three years according to the National Livestock Reporting Service.

ANZ agribusiness research associate director Madeleine Swan said the season-breaking rain would slow the sale of cattle and stabilise prices.

She said it was unlikely graziers would restock as they did a few years ago, which pushed prices to "stratospheric" levels.

"We're not going to see that again because we're all very fairly well stocked across the nation," she said.

Ms Swan said by keeping their cattle, Australian producers would be able to capitalise on global market events like changing tariff policy and rising demand for beef from the United States.

Australia set new records last year for export of beef to the US. 

"Our position on the global market is going great guns," Ms Swan said.

"That US story really does continue to dominate ... that really long, protracted drought and herd liquidation, which is seeing [US] production numbers fall.

"[It's] created a big space for Australia to step into and it's been a real boon for the Australian industry."

Rain a double-edged sword

At Rockwood, a 31,000 hectare station north of Muttaburra in western Queensland, the rain has been a mixed blessing.

Station manager Ross Tindall said 152 millimetres of rain fell over four days last week, which was "perfect" for grass.

But north of the property there were reports of more than 300mm, bringing floodwaters to Rockwood.

"It's a double-edged sword. We love the rain, but sometimes it can be a bit cruel to you," Mr Tindall said.

"The big trouble for us is we have five creeks that all join up … so there was some major water coming down at us."

Mr Tindall said some cattle died in the floodwater.

"We do know that a few have gone down the river which is a bit of a shame," he said.

"It happened in the middle of the night.

"Fencing and the like is going to be the biggest issue in the coming months."

Creeks filling up

Helicopter pilot Gordon Magoffin has been tracking the movement of the water through the state's central west.

"It looks like an inland sea from up there. It's kilometres wide at the moment. There's little islands only just sticking out," he said.

Mr Magoffin said a video he shot of Towerhill Creek near Muttaburra showed how quickly water could rise and fall.

"That video was taken Saturday night and by lunchtime Sunday, it was already starting to retreat a little bit," he said.

Mr Magoffin said it was the first time in years locals had seen the creek run.

"I've only been working down this way for a couple of years, so I haven't seen that much water in it before," he said.