Dubbo and surrounding regions welcomed the rain over the weekend, but cropping officers and agronomists say follow-up is needed to avoid moisture from drying in the soil.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Yesterday, Dubbo received 37mm of rain, bringing a total of 73.2mm for the month of January.
Central west Local Land Services (LLS) cropping officer Neroli Brennan said there had been good falls of rain, but they were very patchy.
"It's not going to mean a bumper of a season, but it will certainly help with the summer crop," she said.
Ms Brennan said follow-up rain was needed to help keep pastures going.
"January and February get very hot and it doesn't take long for it to dry up."
Delta Ag agronomist, Matt Landsay said the weekend rainfall was 'fantastic', but another lot of rain would be welcomed.
"We need another week of good rain to top everything up," he said.
Mr Landsay said last year's lack of rain wasn't enough to build up soil profile.
"This year might be a different story though, with a better finish to the season," he said.
"An inch of rain would be great, but February gets hot and with rain pushing pastures up, more water is needed or it could all go down the drain."
Sunday's 21.8mm downpour in Nyngan was welcomed, as was yesterdays 9mm shower, which helped bring the towns monthly total rainfall to 50mm.
Coonabarabran received 12mm of rain yesterday, while Dunedoo recorded 25mm.
Narromine recorded 37 mm of rainfall yesterday, bringing the month of January's total rainfall to 73.2 mm.
Regional Development Australia (RDA) Orana chair, John Walkom said the rain is 'encouraging'.
"It instills a lot of confidence into the community," he said.
NSW Farmers president, Fiona Simson said a lot of farmers missed out on any rain in the last few days of 2014.
"The rain across the state will be the best Christmas present for farmers," she said.
"Cattle prices improve (as a result of the rain) and it helps to get the pastures growing."
Unfortunately areas in the north and north-west of the state received little to no rainfall over Christmas and the New year.The total rainfall in the month of January for Brewarrina has been just 0.5mm. During this same period, Walgett has recorded 3.4 mm of rain and Coonamble has received only 4 mm of rain.
Ms Simson was recently in the town of Walgett visiting farmers and described the northern regions of the state as 'desperate'.
"There are areas in the north of the state that have received next to nothing," Ms Simson said.
"There are regions where neighbours are only kilometers apart yet some farmers got substantial rain and others didn't."
