Only patchy relief in dry south

Most producers in southern NSW struggling with stock water had destocked gradually over the summer to cope.

But areas desperate for run-off a fortnight ago had isolated storms over the long weekend, which augurs well if follow-up rain comes through this week as forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Falls of 25 to 75 millimetres were welcomed in the West Wyalong area but gauges varied farm to farm.

"Stock water was starting to be an issue until that Easter storm, which was a blessing for some, but the farmers unlucky enough to be on the edge of it are looking over the fence with envy," said Elders West Wyalong livestock manager Greg Roberts.

"It's very isolated where the bad patches still are and where the rain fell."

Mr Roberts said the early April rain had been a saviour for many growers.

"From Tullibigeal back to Ungarie there was heavy rain but unless you were under the strip that it fell it wouldn't have run water," he said.

"Those lucky enough to fall under the storm have got water back in some of their dams but you only have to head back towards Condobolin and you see them cleaning dams out still.

"It was so varied; we watched it rain up the road and they had two inches (50mm) and we had half of that."

Producers had been carting stock water internally from dam to dam but most had been able to manage without sourcing water externally, Mr Roberts said.

Mixed showers ranged from 50mm at Barellan to none north-west of Barellan, said Flagg Livestock and Property principal Mark Flagg, Barellan.

Limited run-off was still a concern, he said.

"We had good falls between Christmas and now but given the cover left on the farming country it doesn't run off like it used to," Mr Flagg said.

He said the storm had topped up dams in the Ungarie area but stock water was generally running low.

"Some would have offloaded in small amounts a few months ago; they were the ones carting water but you could probably count them on two hands," he said.

Cootamundra and Harden recorded scattered readings from 30mm to 80mm, said livestock agent Corey Nicholson, Holman Tolmie, Cootamundra.

"In some areas they had good rain but nothing really ran off so we're in the same boat as we were before," he said.

"Out at Milvale they had up to 80mm but they were carting water prior to that, and in Harden they had a similar (amount) and we saw flood damage."

"People have been offloading stock for a while; on the other hand, on the back of this rain it's started a lot of tractors up and we now need the follow up (rain) to keep it going."

Mr Nicholson said the Yass area had about 50mm.

The Urana/Lockhart district caught between 10mm and 50mm and Deniliquin recorded about 5mm.

Livestock agent John Fitzpatrick, Elders Deniliquin, said most producers had managed stock water given there were alternative water sources and some were under irrigation.

"But feed-wise a lot have been feeding out since the start of October, and many have started in the past eight weeks heading in to lambing," he said.

"If you go further in to the western division it's a much bigger issue."

In the Hay region areas were shy of half their annual rainfall last year.