THE heavy rain that soaked parts of the South West late last week was welcomed by some farmers but was nuisance value for most grain growers.
Bunbury agronomist, Sam Taylor, said while the Bunbury region received about 45mm of rain over two days last week, some paddocks were beyond repair.
"It was a bit of a mixed bag really," he said.
"Some paddocks are up to the regrowth stage, so it was good for them, and it gave those farmers some summer crop opportunities.
"But other people didn't want any rain because they already had dry feed paddocks.
"It really was a paddock-by-paddock situation."
Broomehill farmer, Scott Thompson, received 25mm of rain last week on his 4251-hectare property.
Mr Thompson, who crops 3200ha and also runs 9500 sheep, said the rain didn't destroy any pasture but delayed the start of harvest.
"We could have started harvest last Friday but it was too wet," he said.
"It's now going to be a slow start to harvest, especially if we get rain again this week.
"The rain wasn't that helpful but it might green up a bit of pasture."
An agronomist in the region had predicted 200mm of rain between now and February, which would help with summer feed.
If that rain came and didn't affect harvest, self-sown cereals might grow, helping to feed the sheep.
"Feeding will be a very expensive exercise this summer, and we've already been feeding sheep a lot over the last couple of months," Mr Thompson said.
"Summer rain would be a big help."
Last week, Nannup beef producer and orchardist, Mark Scott, recorded 25mm of rain in three days on his property.
Mr Scott, who runs 220 breeders and has a 20ha fruit orchard, said the rain would be beneficial for 30 per cent of the farm.
"The rain saved three or four days of irrigation for the orchard," he said.
"But for the higher country that had already dried off, it didn't make a difference.
"It has been a welcome change but it's not enough to make a difference and it was not enough to cause run-off."
But Ferguson Valley dairy farmer, Peter Giumelli, was one of the few farmers who received enough rain to make a positive difference.
Mr Giumelli said his Benger property received about 22mm of rain last week, while his Ferguson Valley property received between 35mm and 40mm.
"The rain was extremely welcome on our irrigation property in Benger," Mr Giumelli said.
"It helped us a lot and it will save us watering the maize and pasture until the start of December."
Mr Giumelli said for the lower-lying country on the Ferguson Valley property, the rain would help rejuvenate some of the pasture.
"The rain didn't set us back at all because the hay had already been cut and baled," he said.
