Hereford heifers feature in Lawlor's line-up

But two months later, the country south-west of Omeo has benefited from unusually high summer rainfall, in some cases up to 300 millimetres, as vendors prepare their cattle for the upcoming Mountain Calf Sales.

"It's an incredible contrast to what it is now compared to early January," he said.

"Things were bare, dry and dusty but the growth we've had in the last three or four weeks is possibly better than what we had at the height of spring."

Mr Lawlor and his wife, Sonja, will offer 200 mixed-sex Hereford weaners next month - his 28^th Omeo sale since taking on the reins with his late uncle, Bill Flannagan - in the early 1990s.

"Fire never impacted us at all, thankfully, so we weaned around the time we normally would but it was just extraordinary to do that among such chaos," Mr Lawlor said.

"We had fire breathing down our neck but knew it was going to be much easier to handle calves on their own."

The April/May drop calves consist of a strong line females with the top calves expected to weigh 350-360 kilograms, Mr Lawlor said.

"The cattle look pretty well really," he said.

"They came through the winter reasonably well and I would've liked the calves to have grown a bit more but we had a tight spring and a very hot, long dry summer."

"We've probably got a bigger even line of calves and we've worked hard on tightening the pattern up which has been pleasing to see."

Previously, Mr Lawlor has calved in May/June, however, calving was brought forward in an attempt to compete with other breeders in the area to offer larger calves.

"I've got more heifers this year so instead of it being a 50/50 drop, it's more like 40/60 and the heifers are presenting beautifully," he said.

"[They] sold exceptionally well last year so we're hoping to get a similar result."