Mr Lister said there had been patchy rain at Nyngan with 18 millimetres in town, 5mm around 50 kilometres south-west of the town and in the north 40mm.

"It's a terrific start, we say its a terrific start, but in most normal times we wouldn't think it was that fantastic," he said.

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"I mean when you think Nyngan had a total of about 39mm, and that's the best rain we've had for almost 12 months, its not a lot of rain."

Mr Lister said despite the decent rainfall in some areas around Nyngan, it still remained very patchy with areas about 70 to 80km north-west of Nyngan receiving very little.

"The problem is some people are getting good rain, and their neighbours are getting very little," he said.

While the rainfall has boosted confidence in the region, Mr Lister said another decent drop is needed before the end of February, especially for farmers who may need another 50-100mm to guarantee a good winter.

"It's been terrific to get it, but its a long way from over. There's people that have got to get a follow up before it starts to cool off a bit, the sub soil moisture that some have got wont last that long if we get another month of warm weather," he said.

"For a lot of the farmers its even a little bit early for them. Even though they're very pleased to get it, they probably want that very good rain for sowing, probably late February, early March."

Mr Lister said now farmers would try and conserve what moisture they've got, until they could begin sowing.

"They'll probably work their countryside, spray it to try and conserve the moisture, so that it's there when they're trying to sow, which is still a fair way off yet," he said.

Despite the partial break of rainfall, the biggest relief according to Mr Lister was perhaps a little bit of water supply.

"A lot of people who were very low on water, and I say some not all, but probably 70 to 80 per cent of the shire has got a bit of water, and that's a big thing," he said.