The latest national rainfall outlook released by the Bureau of Meteorology yesterday contains a mixed bag for the country’s cattle producers.

The news is generally good for those in Queensland and north eastern NSW, with the forecast favouring a wetter season over those areas from June until August.

Conversely, the outlook for farmers in the west is not one they will want to hear, with the three month outlook pointing to a drier than normal season in the already badly drought affected southwest of Western Australia.

The bureau bases its three monthly rainfall outlook on Pacific and Indian Ocean temperature patterns, and says the outlook for the next three months is the result of cool conditions in the central tropical Pacific Ocean and warm conditions in the Indian Ocean.

The chances of receiving above median rainfall during the June to August period are between 20pc and 40pc over southwest Western Australia.

In contrast, the chances of receiving above normal rainfall is between 60pc and 80pc over most of Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.

For southern NSW, Victoria, South Australia, northern Western Australa and the Northern Territory, the chances of receiving above normal rainfall are forecast to be between 45pc to 55pc.

• For a larger version of the forecast distribution map, click on the image below