GRAIN receivals in the Albany zone reached 46,600 tonnes last week as harvest in the area was held up by scattered rain over the weekend.
Harvest was still slow in the Albany Zone with only 26,000 tonnes delivered last week but remained about 30,000 tonnes in front of total grain delivered in the zone at the same time last year.
Albany CBH zone manager Greg Thornton said the rain last week was to blame for the slow harvest progress.
"Hopefully with some fine weather forecast for this week harvest will begin to pick up for growers in the Albany Zone," he said.
"The quality and yield characteristics of receivals coming in are varied but quality of wheat deliveries in the northern end of the zone has so far been pleasing."
Although huge yields weren't on the cards some Great Southern growers were surprised by the quality of their grain.
"We're about one-third of the way through our program and the quality is better than I originally expected," Ongerup farmer Darren Baum said.
"We've done most of our canola and some of our barley and we've been lucky to get some malting barley into the bins.
"The early crops are looking good but like every year, we won't really know until we get the header in there."
At Nyabing, grower Scott Crosby was on the header despite the small amount of rain which fell over the weekend.
"We've got eight hectares of canola to finish before we can move on and honestly at the moment it's not looking very good," he said.
Mr Crosby said the paddocks around Nyabing were very patchy and it was only a matter of metres which separated the good crops from the bad.
"We're very lucky compared to many others and we will at least get a 100 per cent harvest," he said.
"Our canola is going between 250kg and 300kg and cereals between 1.2t/ha and 1.5t/ha.
"Of course I've seen the odd paddocks of canola in the area that have gone better and those that have sadly gone worse.
"There's certainly more frost-affected canola around than expected but we'll be lucky enough to look to next year."
At Jerramungup Graham McKinlay was disappointed with the yields in both his canola and barley but was waiting to get stuck into his wheat.
"It has been very patchy around here too," he said.
"The yields have been disappointing but the quality has been surprising and there are a lot of growers around here whose barley is making malt two, which is good."
Mr McKinlay said Yitpi crops had performed well in the area considering the season but he didn't want to be too confident before he put the header in the paddock.
The Geraldton zone recorded its busiest week of the season so far with around 270,000 tonnes delivered since November 8.
Geraldton CBH zone manager Duncan Gray said the zone was now 65 per cent of its way through harvest.
"We had a decent run with the weather over the last week which has enabled growers to make good progress with their harvest programs," he said.
"Wheat quality is still fairly mixed and daily receivals are around 40,000 tonnes.
"Given some growers further north of the zone have finished harvesting some sites will begin to close for receivals towards the end of this week."
Mr Gray reminded growers that for this reason it was important for them to keep in touch with their local area managers for the remainder of harvest for the most up-to-date information on site and service availability.
The Kwinana zone has received around 408,000 tonnes with about 30pc of the harvest completed.
Kwinana CBH zone manager Brett Jeffrey said rain slowed progress for growers located in the southern and western parts of the zone.
"Before the rain came in mid-week we were receiving up to 60,000 tonnes a day," he said.
"Hopefully with good harvesting weather forecast for this week we'll see daily receivals peak at around 100,000 tonnes."
A total of 70pc of both the barley and canola crop in the Kwinana Zone had been delivered and wheat had started to come in.
"The quality of barley receivals to-date has been quite pleasing," Mr Jeffery said.
He said although 50pc of the sites in the Kwinana zone would not open for deliveries this harvest all sites taking grower receivals this harvest were now open.
Kwinana Zone growers were also encouraged to contact their local area manager for site and service availability.
The Esperance zone received around 100,000 tonnes last week which bought total receivals to around 169,000 tonnes.
Esperance CBH zone manager Mick Daw said harvest had progressed well early in the week and most growers had started programs.
"With this said, the widespread rain that arrived last Wednesday stayed until late Friday and halted progress," Mr Daw said.
"Deliveries have mostly consisted of canola, barley and field peas and as is the case for most of the State, it's a mixed bag in terms of quality and yield.
"Given harvest is starting to gain momentum all sites, including community sampling huts, are now open."
The Esperance zone was on track to receive 1.5 million tonnes for the year which would match its total receivals of last year.
