When the farm burns or the grass runs out, it’s a battle to keep valuable livestock alive

Ian Durkin, feeding some of the bulls on his Mountain Valley Hereford Stud in northern NSW. Photograph: Simon Scott/The Guardian

The short message went viral: “Kenmay burned yesterday, we need to sell cattle.”

The plea came from Dr Robert Scanlon of Parawanga Droughtmaster Stud. Scanlon and his wife, Karen, manage the stud on a 970-hectare property called Kenmay near Miriam Vale in central Queensland. It burned on 29 October in the Mount Tom fires.