A two week battle to save paddocks and infrastructure at Yulgilbar Station on the Upper Clarence has left the team weary and distraught, losing 12,000 hectares and 90 kilometres of fencing in a record drought year.
The grader clocked up 180 hours defending pasture from spot fires, hurled from the main front eight and 10km away.
Manager Rob Sinnamon now faces a massive effort to feed 5000 Santa Gertrudis cattle, 2000 of which will be fattened and killed. There is no decision on whether any stud cattle will be agisted.
Yulgilbar is now calling for standing sugar cane, up to 6000 tonnes required baled as silage, to be mixed with palm kernel and grain to make an effective ration.
Hay requirements, at three times the price for Victorian produce, are 70 big bales a day just to deliver a basic 8kg a day per head, Mr Sinnamon said.