If the drought wasn't bad enough, farmers in western NSW are having their livelihoods threatened by wild dogs, with the potential for the feral pests to wipe out sheep grazing across the region.
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Dog numbers have grown in recent years, increasing substantially after floods back in 2012.
The big dry that has gripped the region since 2016 has done little to affect their numbers as they continue to attack sheep, kangaroos and other animals.
It's hard to judge just how many there are in the area but individual property owners have reported killing up to 60 so far this year.
It may not sound like many, but taking into account those that are baited with their remains never found and those that evade capture, the numbers become significant.
With each wild dog having the potential to kill dozens of sheep a night, it's not hard to see the risk to pastoralists.
For Louise and Zane Turner who currently run about 3500 sheep on Goodwood Station, about 50km northeast of White Cliffs, the problem posed by wild dogs is very real.
It's not only a threat to their business, it also compounds the stresses they face while trying to manage 37,000 hectares through two years of drought.
"It's making the drought worse mentally," Ms Turner said.
"It's another thing that people have to worry about and some people just don't want to think about it.
"If they do they fear it's going to break them."
Even more frustrating for farmers is that the dogs don't usually eat the sheep, but kill mainly as a way to train their young.
"It's like road kill, except that the dogs are the cars and they aim for the animals instead of trying to dodge them," Ms Turner said.
To better manage the problem, the Turners would like to see more work being done to replace ageing sections of the dog fence which stretches for more than 5600km from the Nullarbor Plain, across South Australia's mid-north, the NSW northwest and then across southern Queensland.
Areas of the fence that have been regularly breached by dogs and other animals are patched but the time and money spent on that is time and money that can't be spent on replacing large sections that have become brittle and barely pose a barrier.
Land owners would also like to see funds available to subsidise specialist trappers in western NSW and more work to track the spread and movement of the dogs
"We need to use all the tools available to us," Ms Turner said.
"If we don't do something about this we are not going to be able to run sheep in the western region.
"They're not going to prey on us, but they are going to prey on our livelihood."
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Australian Associated Press