Australia’s drought-stricken grazing sector is keeping a hopeful eye on short-term rainfall forecasts for the next two weeks.

Recent long term weather outlooks have given cattle producers across the country little reason to smile, with the Bureau of Meteorology last week rating the chances of median rainfall being received this summer at just 20-40pc for large areas of Australia.

However hopes are building that some short term relief may be on the way for eastern and northern parts of Australia, as the latest seven-to-14 day rainfall forecast maps from WeatherZone show: