NO DROUGHT is exactly the same.
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This year, for those who still have water, the ability to access feed for stock is becoming ever more critical, especially given the dismal prices the market is offering if they sell.
While the focus of last week's drought forums was on immediate help - which is imperative to keep people on their feet - there are also wider aspects of this situation the federal cabinet must consider, in particular the country's cow herd.
Following the previous drought, which ran through most of the first decade of the 2000s, the breeding capacity of the beef herd was badly depleted.
This included severely reduced commercial herds, but the dispersal of many studs also led to a depletion of seedstock.
During the subsequent rebuilding phase weaner and cow prices were pushed to record or near-record highs.
We are only a few years down the track from the last drought and well into the next one.
The females bought and bred in that phase of expensive rebuilding are now being sold for next to nothing: certainly at below cost of production.
So if the federal cabinet decides on one thing, it should be to help those in drought-afflicted areas get better access to fodder.
Although fodder assistance will be too late for some, many have held onto core breeders, knowing they won't be able to afford another expensive restocking phase.
Fodder will ensure there is some capacity for producers to recover with rain.
Of course, it may not rain for some time, and assistance can't be open-ended.
Nor are supplies of fodder.
If relief is a long time coming, more profound restructuring measures will be needed.
But fodder buys time, for producers and cabinet.
The effects of this drought will linger across the fortunes of the beef industry for a long time to come.
Most producers have already sold the source of their 2014-15 income, and the sell-off is likely to affect Australia's capacity to supply emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East.
Even if the drought broke tomorrow - for beef producers in particular - it's going to be at least three years before their next decent income.
That's providing they can restock - and for many, that could be three years too long.