Australia's largest operating sheep station Rawlinna has recorded more than last year's average rainfall in just 48 hours.
"I can't remember ever seeing so much rain at Rawlinna and certainly not in the six years that I have been managing it," said station manager Jimmy Wood.
"We recorded an 86 millimetre average for the whole of 2023 and now we are over 100mm for this year - and that's before the end of the first month."
Nestled on the Nullarbor Plain, the station covers an area roughly the size of Sydney and runs more than 30,000 Merinos - and it was desperate for a drink.
It certainly got that when the heavens opened over a 36-hour period from January 25.
The 92mm caught Mr Wood by surprise - he was expecting about 10-15mm.
"It will hopefully set us up for a very good season," he said.
"And it will certainly make shearing a whole lot easier, with the sheep getting stronger everyday as they come into the shed.
"The country responds very quickly, particularly if there's a bit of warmth around, which there has been.
"We are already seeing a tinge of green come up."
Mr Wood said there had been some rainfall earlier last month, including 10mm at the top of Rawlinna and about 40mm at the depot.
He said while the depot only recorded 35mm during the recent event, it was still up to 85mm for the year.
"That is a fantastic way to go into shearing and certainly the southern part of Rawlinna is going gangbusters at the moment in terms of feed," Mr Wood said.
"I've had rain in January before, but never backed up a couple of weeks apart and never this much.
"Certainly there were a lot of guys along the transline who needed it, even more than Rawlinna even, and it is good that they got it."
Rawlinna will start shearing on February 12, with busy hands set to work their way through about 32,000 to 33,000-head.
Mr Wood anticipates the season will wrap-up in about three weeks, but that could change if anymore rain was to fall.
"We might get a bit more rain and if we do during shearing that will drag it out a bit," he said.
"I'd happily have the rain any day, and to get the sheep back home again into very green paddocks after shearing.
"I went up in the plane on Sunday and as far as the eye can see every donger in the northern part of Rawlinna is full, and not just (a bit of) water in them, but full right up to the blue bush, choc-a-block full.
"I think the future is looking good for us.
"If we get a follow-up rain in March or April the 2024 season might be the one everyone has been looking for."
Also on the Nullarbor, Donald Hogg, Kinclaven station, welcomed the 151mm that drenched his property, over just two days.
Earlier in January, Kinclaven recorded 24mm, which means its total for the year has already reached 175mm.
"That's pretty significant, as in 2022-23 we only had 184mm for the two years combined," Mr Hogg said.
"That included 106mm in 2022 and 77mm in 2023, so we already caught up with that in the past month alone."
Mr Hogg said the rain started at about 10pm last Wednesday, with the main rain finishing at 9am the following morning.
He said another 27mm fell on Thursday, which was "very slow and gentle".
"I went for a drive yesterday (Monday), the donger systems are all full of water, like miniature lakes all over the place, but once you get off the road it is very dry," Mr Hogg said.
"The country must've soaked it right up, straight away."
Looking back through his records, Mr Hogg said the last time he had seen such a strong start to the year was in February 2011, when about 250mm was recorded.
Since then he said there had been a few average years and some pretty dry ones too.
"Over the past five years I think we have only had one average rainfall year," Mr Hogg said.
"In 2019, we only recorded about 26mm."
Kinclaven station runs about 2500 to 3000-head of mainly Santa Gertrudis cattle, having destocked heavily over the past two years.
"In 2022-23 the price of cattle was pretty good, so we unloaded a fair few females, while the prices were high and they still had a bit of weight on them," Mr Hogg said.
"I'm hoping the country will keep growing and we will get another rain in about six weeks time, that would be brilliant.
"Last year the rain got to Meekathara, split up and then went down the south west and further east - we missed out on everything.
"This last rainfall event was a welcome surprise."
