THE WA harvest has passed the 14 million tonne mark with receivals just passing the figure on Monday.
As at 3pm on Monday, CBH said exactly 14,001 million tonnes had been received throughout the State and with further delays to harvest last week more is still to be delivered with estimates that 99 per cent of the harvest is complete.
But the total volume will not reach the 14.695mt harvest recorded in 2003-2004, although it is substantially bigger than the next best figure recorded this decade of 12.528mt in 2005-06.
Adding further frustration to an already drawn out harvest, CBH believes there is a chance some growers in the Albany port zone will be lucky to finish before the end of the month.
CBH surmised that if the region had 10 days of continuous fine weather, the Albany port zone should wrap up its harvest for 2011/12.
CBH Albany zone manager Greg Thornton said a further 250,000 tonnes was expected to be delivered throughout the zone before harvest was officially finished.
Tarin Rock farmers Ed and Mike Naisbitt were still harvesting last weekend when Farm Weekly called in.
They had just got back on the header after wet weather during the previous week interrupted their harvest.
Mr Naisbitt said they received about two millimetres of rain last Thursday while farms only five kilometres to the west had up to 45mm.
Ed and Mike's uncle, Herb Naisbitt said it was the worst season for harvest weather that he had witnessed in his 50 years of farming.
Ed Naisbitt said if they got seven fine days they should finish the 700ha of Wyalkatchem wheat left in their 2011/12 program.
On top of the delays created by the rain, the Naisbitts also had to bring in spray contractors to combat the array of weeds, including fleabane, Afghan thistle, melons and saltbush which had flourished.
Toolibin local Ron Knox was another grower who was also still in the paddock on the header.
Though he only had 300ha to strip before he wrapped up his harvest, he was still working around the clock to get it off.
Mr Knox said the rain and subsequent cold weather had delayed his harvest which meant he needed to spend up to 10 hours a day on the header and a further five hours night spraying for melons.
Gnowangerup farmer Collyn Garnett, Willemenup stud, was one of the lucky growers who finished just before the new year.
With the help of farm employee Luke Mickan and seasonal workers Francois Paquet and Davide Pilaster they wrapped up their 2011/12 harvest at the end of December.
With a 1620 hectare program of wheat, barley, oats and pasture in the ground, Mr Mickan said they were lucky to finish on December 29 before forecast rain further delayed their harvest efforts.
"The season started off really well for us," Mr Mickan said.
"Our cereals were yielding well and we weren't having any problems with our protein or falling numbers.
"The rain we received between then and now has really made things hard for most people in the Albany port zone though.
"The longer our harvest went on, the worse our falling numbers became and everybody was in the same boat.
"We were just lucky to catch a few warm, windy days which helped to dry things out and allowed us to get it all delivered to CBH.
"Now it's just a matter of getting everything cleaned down, packed away and planning started for this year."
Harvest also started to draw to a close in the Esperance port zone even though rain seriously hampered efforts to reach a reasonably timed finish.
Esperance port zone manager Mick Daw expected another 50,000-100,000t to be delivered during the coming weeks.
"The majority of grain being received at the moment is wheat, with only minor tonnes of other grains," he said.
The Geraldton port zone received 3.5mt for the season and zone manager, Duncan Gray expected about 40,000-50,000t more to be delivered to a "handful" of CBH receival sites still open.
But it was growers in the Kwinana port zone who delivered the most grain this season.
CBH sites in the zone continued to receive steady daily tonnages as growers pushed to beat the predicted rain.
Kwinana zone manager Brett Jeffrey said most sites were nearly full and segregations would continue to close daily so growers needed to be patient while CBH worked to "squeeze the last few hundred thousand tonnes through the zone."
This season, 11 Kwinana zone sites broke seasonal receival records and 31 sites broke daily receival records, which Mr Jeffrey said was a welcome change from the previous few years.
The Geraldton zone's harvest was 99pc complete with 3.5mt delivered, the Kwinana zone was all but finished with 6.536mt delivered, the Albany zone was 90pc complete with 2.406mt delivered and the Esperance zone was 90pc complete with 1.458mt delivered.
p CBH urged growers who still planned to deliver loads to CBH receival sites throughout the Wheatbelt and Great Southern to contact their local site or CBH's Grower Service Centre (1800 199 083) for segregations and opening times.
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