Western Queensland graziers are destocking for the second year in a row after large numbers of grasshoppers decimated their paddocks.
The insects, which are reportedly not locusts, have been recorded between Winton, Barcaldine, Hughenden, Julia Creek and north of the Flinders Highway.
Phillip Owens, the owner Llewellyn Station, which stretches between Longreach and Winton, said he sold the last of his breeding stock last week.
"We've virtually shut down, the country looks like it has had a fire on it," Mr Owens said.
"We've got a handful of cattle left, but pretty well the nucleus of the breeding herd is gone."
Mr Owens said the grasshopper damage was frustrating after the most significant rain to the area in recent times.
"There would have been enough to carry us until after the winter normally," he said.
"With the Mitchell grass, whatever we had, they've completely stripped that.
"Things are looking pretty barren."
Mysterious distribution
Cloncurry-based livestock agent Bo Scoble said the grasshoppers had completely changed the colour of his car.
"The roads are completely brown from them," Mr Scoble said.
"I can't workout why they are so dense in some areas and other areas there's very few, apart from the fact that the season has been very patchy.
"One paddock to the next paddock, 20 kilometres apart, you'd think you're in a different world."
Mr Scoble said the grasshoppers, combined with the dry weather in parts, had contributed to a sell-off of cattle across north-west Queensland.
"People were hoping for some follow-up and hoping to top the wet off," he said.
"A lot of the cattle that we're offloading at the moment is due to the fact that there's not enough grass the get the numbers that clients have through to the end of the year."
Problem short-lived
The Australian Plague Locust Commission has been checking in with graziers in the central west to assess the problem.
Director Chris Adriaansen said the types of grasshoppers that have been populating western Queensland were likely to die out quickly.
"These grasshoppers have the ability to be able to take rapid advantage of favourable conditions," Mr Adriaansen said.
"When the rain occurred and the vegetation greened up, the soil was moist and the eggs hatched and the nymphs have obviously had a reasonable amount of feed to take advantage of.
"While it might be disappointing from [the graziers'] perspective, they aren't going to be a persistent problem."
