The drought has slowly suffocated the Burrawang dairy farm over the past 18 months. The coming days will be critical to the survival of one of the last dairy farms in the Southern Highlands. 

It will be a death knell for Craig Whatman, whose family has been a part of dairy industry in the region for 179 years.

Mr Whatman said the situation was so dire that he would be forced to cull the herd, sparing them from starvation if a solution could not be found. 

"We will run out of food by Friday. The cows are nearly 100kg underweight at the moment and producing about five litres less per day than the norm," he said. 

Wife Tammy Whatman has been collecting left over bread from the bakery in Robertson to mix up with  remaining hay bales in the hope it will extend the dwindling food supply. 

"Some people are using melons, any fruit they can find. We've got citrus pulp coming, hopefully this week," she said. 

Read more: Illawarra farmers doing it tough as drought deepens

Almost 100 per cent of NSW is in drought but driving around the Highlands can be deceiving as rolling hills covered in green grass create a 'green illusion'. 

"We look deceptively green, but it's not sustainable to feed any cattle," Ms Whatman said. 

ECM Livestock agent Pat Cleary said the region was currently operating "40 or 50 per cent of the cattle we had this time last year." 

"The next six or eight weeks are crucial as we don't get spring in the Highlands until the other side of September. That's not only this year's problem, it's next year's as well," Mr Cleary said. 

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On Monday the state government announced a $500 million drought relief package that would expand existing loan programs, transport subsidies and add $150 million to the NSW Farm Innovation Fund. 

For the Whatmans and many other farmers in the state it will do little to help them in this current crisis. Transport subsidies are limited to a distance of 750km, while feed and fodder stores have mostly dried up in VIC, SA and NSW, leaving shipments from WA as a last resort.  

Mr Whatman said that even if he got through the mountains of paperwork it still amounts to more debt that has to be repaid. “Farmers have borrowed and borrowed already to feed their stock. We can't afford to take on any more debt," he said. 

"I received a message from my grain supplier in SA to say that they were almost out of feed. I don't know what'll happen if WA starts running out, we'll have to look at importing it from overseas," he said. 

Mr Cleary said that due to the scale of the drought coupled with the rising cost and limited availability of feed, government assistance wouldn't be of much use.  

"We're in a situation where even if the government does turn around and say: Ok, you're out of hay, you're out of water, here's $10,000 - it won't really do much because we're almost out of feed. It's not only that the district is dry, it's the worst drought in a 100 years," he said. 

Ms Whatman said the family had resisted selling the property, but hope for another generation going into the family business was unlikely.

"If we leave, that's another 1.2 million litres of domestic milk supply lost and another dairy in the district gone. There were about 300 dairy farms in the region in the early 1970s, today there are nine," she said. 

"But we were sitting in the kitchen one morning after just having fed the cows and they were just bellowing because they were so hungry. I don't know how much more I can take."