There was a time, not so long ago, when our screens and news feeds were filled with images of emaciated livestock, of dry and dusty paddocks, of hay drops and drought appeals.
Stories of devastation as farmers destocked to nothing and rural communities struggled to survive were everywhere.
And then along came La Niña.
Three wet summers have seen cattle prices go through the roof, confidence in agriculture grow and record yields across commodities.
They have also seen problems of a different kind, with floods devastating many farmers along Australia's eastern seaboard.
So when is the right time to start talking about and preparing for drought?
Wettest year ever
While they have celebrated the good season, one of Queensland's oldest pastoral properties knows from its history books drought will soon follow.
Mt Brisbane station, in the Somerset region, recorded 1600 millimetres of rain for the 2022 year, 130mm above the previous wettest year, 2010.
As a result, the station looks a picture.
"The weeds are terrible, but the grass has never looked better [and] the cattle have never looked better," said owner, Carli McConnel.
"We did have a lot of flood damage from February [2022] rain that's eventually been repaired and the place is running back to normal now.
"I think we just bless every day that it's wet."
The previous record of 1465mm of rain was set in 2010, which led into the deadly 2011 Queensland floods.
"It was followed by some pretty drastic droughts," she said.
"We've had our share of shocking droughts … I remember when we had to sell all the bullocks and let the cows into the bullock paddocks and just how terrible it was for stock."
Ms McConnel said the property had been keeping rainfall records since the Bureau of Meteorology started recording them in 1893.
"I've recorded them personally for 50 years," she said.
She said her father always said there would be one good year in seven years, which then lead into the next drought
"I think that's pretty right," she said.
"We'll take this good year, but we know that there are bad years around the corner."
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has updated its latest outlook, which suggests the current La Niña may be easing.
Drought preparations beyond the paddock
Meanwhile, the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) is working on major projects to help those most vulnerable to drought.
Scott Power spent more than 20 years in the Bureau of Meteorology, where his job was to try to identify how the climate would change in the future.
Now working for the UniSQ Centre for Applied Climate Sciences, he is taking a more proactive approach.
"We don't just stop at raising awareness of the problem, we actually try our very best to work with others to develop solutions," Professor Power said.
The Queensland Government's Drought and Climate Adaptation Program is currently funding three projects, designed to help the grazing industry better manage drought and climate, improve weather forecasting, create alternative income streams and improve pasture prediction.
The stakeholders range from other universities, government departments, the United Kingdom's Met office and the Queensland Farmers Federation, among others.
"We collaborate because we want to try to maximise the likelihood that what ends up coming out of these projects is something useful to the target beneficiaries," he said.
Sell, sell, sell
Back at Mt Brisbane station, the family are enjoying the good season, which combined with high cattle prices means they can upgrade the hay shed and other infrastructure and make improvements to water.
"The main thing is to make sure your pastures are right … we've done a lot of weed control [and] we try to level out the stocking rates to make sure that nothing's been flogged and that all the country's getting a chance to reseed," Ms McConnel said.
She said the key takeaway from the last drought was to sell earlier.
"The feedlots were full and so we had to wait up to a month in one instance to get cattle in, so we should have started that earlier," she said.
She said this time around, she would not expect the "rains were coming when they always have."
"It can be a heartbreaking line [to tread]."
Not if, but when
And the preparations do not end there.
Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) Australia said farming businesses needed to spend some time looking at the books ahead of the next natural disaster.
"But it's not a matter of if there will be a drought, it's a matter of when and how severe that drought will be," said CPA Australia policy advisor, Gavin Ord.
"The best time to prepare for drought is before it actually happens."
He said farming businesses could "bounce from crisis to crisis" and with droughts set to increase in severity and frequency, preparation was key.
"You can manage through it, and then you can bounce back quickly after the drought ends."
