Vince O'Brien, Shepperdson and Boyd, said a key effect of recent rain would be to limit the flow of cattle onto the market.

"Graziers have not had an abundance of grass and they see it as a chance to put more weight on at a very little cost, an option they haven't had for quite some time," Mr O'Brien said.

"I think there will be reasonable numbers of store cattle, however I don't see a rush of fat cattle in the next month to six weeks."

The marketing of heavier export cattle is a key issue for the beef industry according to Mr O'Brien, with the Australian dollar sitting at US91c on Tuesday.

"The price of heavier cattle is less at the moment than we were getting 20 years ago, we realise the exporters are having difficulty in selling it, but we as agents realise that graziers are having a very difficult time taking these rates and their running expenses galloped away in the same period of time."

Yardings at Warwick and Inverell this week totalled just 106 and 199 respectively, as many producers held off to make the most of the summer rainfall.

Mike Wheeler of Mike Wheeler Livestock & Property at Woodford yarded 147 vealers and calves on Monday, where prices were firm following 140mm of rain in the district.

"The reality is on these small properties people need to sell to keep cash flow going ? despite the fact it's wet, people still need an income," he said.

Mr Wheeler expects numbers to rise somewhat in the following weeks as the weather clears, but warns supply may be down slightly on last year.

"Prior to Christmas, people started cutting into their supply for January to March, with an increase of trade calves.

"People started pulling calves off cows early and logically this stock will be out of the system, come their usual selling time.

"I think it will be at least six weeks until cattle quality improves, but I don't see any significant upward pressure in the market."

More selling centres return to action from next week, with Roma's first sale for 2010 scheduled for January 12 and Emerald on January 14.