Farmers from all over the North West region lined up at a property at Carroll to receive their allocation on Tuesday and Wednesday, ready to cart back to their hungry cattle.

Rural Aid's business development manager Craig Marsh said more than 1500 bales of hay worth almost $500,000 had been distributed to those in need.

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"[The farmers] are happy they're here to get some relief ... but at the same time, you look at the land and it's not drought - it's disaster," he said.

"That's the hard part for them: only rain will fix it, but we are trying to keep them going with bits and pieces along the way, whether it's hay or water, cash cards or counselling."

The freshly cut wheat hay itself has travelled on 22 road trains from South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula.

"Every farmer here is registered with Rural Aid ... so because they're registered, we know how many head of cattle they are carrying now and they get an allocation for the hay they're provided today. Every farmer knows what they're going to get," Mr Marsh said.

Mr Marsh said Rural Aid usually received about 400 registrations every month, but this had increased dramatically in recent months.

"We've got 970 last month and 1100 this month, which shows just how bad things are," he said.

"We've got registered about 13 per cent of all farmers in Australia - and given that Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory and northern Queensland aren't in drought, that's a lot of farmers just in NSW and southern Queensland."

Farmers who need assistance are urged to register via the Rural Aid website, because "it's not about handouts, it's about hands up".

"Even if they're not in a position where they need aid right now, they should register now, so that if it gets to the point where they need aid we can switch on things pretty quickly," Mr Marsh said.