A south-western Queensland sheep producer is just one week away from feeding his sheep for 1,000 consecutive days.

Errol Brumpton, who runs a merino stud north east of Mitchell, says this drought is the worst on his records, dating back to 1884, and his property hasn't seen decent rain since 2012. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 1 second 3 m 1 s Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. South-western Queensland sheep producer Errol Brumpton calls this drought 'the daddy of them all'. ( Lydia Burton ) Download 1.4 MB

"We had a lot of fodder of our own which we put away; we conserved it over the years but literally our country hasn't grown a kilogram of grass or vegetation to feed an animal since February 2012, the record flood of 2012," Mr Brumpton said.

"We've had three droughts of major magnitude since 2001. This one is the daddy of them all, this is even bigger than the federation drought.

"Any other drought you may get a two inch fall or an inch and a half fall followed by some small falls which allow one to grow some forage crops or improved pastures," he said.

"But, in this drought, we don't even get enough rain to allow improved pastures to shoot away to give stock a break and get some green food into them at all.

"The falls are so small and minor that's what makes this drought so different to any previous drought."

Mr Brumpton has reduced the number of stock on his property.

"We've got a lot less sheep now with more country than we had in 1980, so we are running on a survival number of stock to keep the core of the stud going.

"Our stock are doing really well. We are putting a lot of money into them to keep them there."

Mr Brumpton says the droughts have prompted them to select Braham cattle-like traits to produce hardy sheep.

"We have been putting a lot of work into selecting for an environmentally-fit sheep and it's playing a major role in survival here now.

He says, over time, merinos have been softened by growers focusing on wool cut, which wasn't suitable to semi-arid environments like Queensland.

"We have looked at those Braham-type traits for the sheep; large flappy ears so they can cool themselves, high feed conversion, take off excess wrinkly skin which impedes blood flow and cooling effect, and we have introduced genes for nurture and maternal instincts so these sheep can fall in lamb and rear a lamb under very trying conditions."