His stock stand hungry in dry, dusty paddocks and the bill to feed and water them just keeps on growing.

Currently, 99 per cent of the Central Tablelands has been declared drought (65 per cent) or ‘drought onset’ (34 per cent).

“It’s gone past the knife edge,” Mr McKay said.

In his role as the Bathurst branch president of the NSW Farmers Association he has seen first-hand how the drought has impacted the region’s farmers.

“It’s extremely dry, we had no spring here and no rainfall … we didn’t get enough [rain] last spring to make hay,” he said.

“A load of hay is around $7500 [to buy] and it’s got to come from Victoria because all the NSW [hay] got sold off very quickly. Then there’s around $4000 to $5000 in freight costs.”

Mr McKay said many farmers are being forced to “decide whether to cut their losses or keep going”.

“You don’t know whether to feed them hard to get them in good condition or just survival feed them to keep them alive,” he said.

“There’s a lot of debt level trying to feed and find water.

“The worst thing you can do is run out of water and then you’re forced to sell.

“You dread it every day and you wake up every night thinking about it … you dread how long it’ll [the drought] go on for.”

Lifeline Central West executive officer Alex Ferguson said for many farmers the drought was a “pressure or stress that doesn’t go away” and he encouraged those struggling to talk.

“Talk to a friend, talk to a neighbour, talk to a doctor, ring Lifeline, but the main thing is just talk,” he said.

“If you’re in trouble put your hand up.”

Mr Ferguson also pleaded with the wider community to “keep an eye on people doing it tough”.

“The way we support each other is a very important part of this drought,” he said.

The Berejiklian government has acknowledged NSW is in its worst drought in more than 20 years and appointed respected former grazier Pip Job as the state’s drought co-ordinator earlier this month.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian recently visited a property just outside Dubbo to see first-hand what the conditions were like for farmers.