KEY POINTS:
Farmers in some of the country's driest areas are celebrating drought-breaking rain in recent days.
But not everyone has been so lucky, and even those getting relief are mindful of two potentially dry months ahead that could set them back again.
The North Island's east coast and North Canterbury have been hit particularly hard by the hot, dry summer.
And although prices for lamb and beef are good, most farmers do not have enough meat to sell because of the dry conditions.
In North Canterbury, where the big dry has taken a particularly heavy toll, steady rain from Thursday through to the weekend - on top of other recent rains - has broken the drought.
The most recent rain, between 25mm and 50mm, had been "pretty general" rather than falling in patches, said North Canterbury Federated Farmers president Chris Sundstrum.
"It was very much needed. If we hadn't had that follow-up we could have gone back into a drought situation very, very quickly indeed.
"March-April can often be dry still. It's often not until we get into May until we get decent rain."
In Wairarapa, the rain had been "reasonably widespread", said Wairarapa Federated Farmers president Anders Crofoot
It had been especially welcome in central Wairarapa, where it had been "bloody dry".
"If we just keep getting a bit of follow-up [rain] so it doesn't burn off the new growth, we could be setting up for quite a good autumn."
Dry areas of Hawkes Bay have missed most of the recent rain, and what falls there have been in the past fortnight have been patchy.
"We need two or three days of soaking rain," said Hawkes Bay Federated Farmers president Kevin Mitchell.
While an official drought had not been declared in the region, "most Hawkes Bay farmers have been in drought mode since November".
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research predicts rainfall to April will be normal or above normal in the north of the North Island, normal for the rest of the North Island, and normal or below normal for the South Island.
