Just a month ago entries in the Maitland Show were scarce due to the heat, humidity and even the affect of the drought and bushfires.

Recent rain - and even more on the roof over the weekend, has signalled the flow of entries across the cattle, poultry and goat sections. The horse section, which takes entries on the day, is also shaping up to be a strong event with many competitors already flagging their intent to come along. It's expected a lot will come to try to qualify for the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

"It's a relief," cattle clinic coordinator Leonie Ball said.

"I was worried a month ago, but now there are good entries and it looks like it will be a strong showing, despite the seasonal conditions."

The prompt turnaround is ironic given the Maitland Show is famous for dragging in bad weather extremes - either rainy and wet, or horrible heatwaves.

"It's either pouring rain or very hot and the last few years we've had some very high temperatures and that has affected our poultry show," one of the poultry organisers, Brod Vallance, said.

"The last few years we haven't been getting many numbers because of the heat. "This year we've had people put entries in who wouldn't normally put them in. If the weather stays cooler, like it is supposed to do, we are hoping we will get even more."

Mr Vallance and fellow poultry organiser Tony Mills changed the poultry show from a two-day event to a single day this year in preparation for another scorching event. They said breeders don't want their birds to endure high temperatures over a longer show.

They thought the change would entice more breeders to enter, and they were right.

There are 120 entries in the show and that number could rise as high as 200 before the weekend.

Goats will also have a strong presence at the show with a few breeders confirming they will bring their large show teams.

The soaking rain, and emergence of green pastures around Maitland, is finally restoring faith in the city's agriculture sector.

But while the deluge has put water in farm dams, it hasn't had a huge affect on Hunter Water's catchment.

Chichester Dam has jumped 0.3 per cent in the past week while the other three resources - Grahamstown Dam, Tomago Sandbeds and Anna Bay Sandbeds, have continued to fall.

Level 2 water restrictions have been in place since January and won't be abandoned until the combined total storage is sitting at 60 per cent. Right now it's 52.6 per cent.

If low rainfall continues for the next six months Hunter Water's storage could drop as low as 40.5 per cent. If that happened Level 3 restrictions would be in place, which would signal the end to outdoor water use.