As Banjo Paterson wrote: "The bush hath moods and changes, as the seasons rise and fall, and the men who know the bush-land - they are loyal through it all."
Lloyd Graham is one of those men, but the loyalty of farmers is once again being tested by nature.
After several years of drought-ravaged crops, many grain growers - particularly in NSW's north - had been looking forward to a decent harvest.
Yet the headers that should be rolling across the slopes and plains stripping wheat, barley and oats have been brought to a halt by widespread and sometimes heavy rain that has come at the wrong time.
Rain at harvest not only bogs equipment, it can severely damage the quality of crops.
David Ginns, from the grain handler Graincorp, said that unless hot, dry weather quickly returns, farmers in some areas will start to see their crops downgraded and money lost.
Mr Graham, who farms near Dunedoo, NSW, was stripping his oats on Monday evening when the rain arrived, forcing him to stop with a third of the crop still to harvest.
In the 24 hours to 9am yesterday, the heaviest falls in the NSW grain belt included Gunnedah with 45 millimetres, Coonabarabran 75, Coonamble 71, Trangie 50, Glen Innes 51 and Dunedoo 35.
In the south, falls were mostly less than 10 millimetres. More light rain fell across the state throughout the day, although Mungindi had 27 millimetres from a thunderstorm.
The forecast is for isolated showers and thunderstorms to continue over the grain belt into the weekend.
Mr Graham hopes to resume his final three days of harvesting by the weekend and is not expecting damage to the oats, which he will feed to his sheep over winter.
The rain was also wonderful for pasture in the lead-up to summer.
"I take [rain] when I can get it, to make up for when I want it and can't get it.
"You have got to be pretty philosophical about it."