THE large number of piles of grain at the Lakaput storage site, southwest of Beaufort, Victoria, is testimony to the difficulty of this season's grain harvest.

Bunkers that would normally stretch in long lines across the site have been cut in half.

The grain storage, owned by brothers Steve and Michael Broadbent and badged as an Australian Bulk Alliance facility, has almost 20 segregations for the wheat, barley, canola and oats received at the site.

While the Broadbents have yet to top their record of 153,000 tonnes in 2007-08, receivals this season are taking up more space.

Steve Broadbent said the decision to open an unusually large number of segregations was designed to provide a better service to local growers.

"We've had to work hard to accommodate the segregations, to try to add value back to farmers," Mr Broadbent said.

"It has been a fairly disheartening year for farmers."

A heat wave in late October, a dry spring and a wet harvest have all combined to spread the quality of grain over a wide spectrum, he said.

"If we had an inch of rain in October, it would have been massive receivals here this year," Mr Broadbent said.

Heavy rain during the harvest also knocked test weights about.

Mr Broadbent said one bunker, which was filled with 18,000 tonnes of Australian Premium White wheat last season, only held 14,000 tonnes of High Protein Screenings 1 wheat this season.

While some of the tonnage difference was a result of the stacker used, most of it was due to lower test weights for the wheat.

Mr Broadbent said many of the other bunkers had been split into two, to accommodate a range of segregations.

He said every split meant capacity was reduced by about 5000 tonnes, so more bunkers had to be built.

Mr Broadbent said a second weighbridge had been built for this season, allowing growers to tare off and return to harvesters much more quickly.

The service to growers has been welcome. Ballyrogan farmer Rod Alexander has watched the Lakaput storage grow from humble beginnings to a large receival site.

"This is a well-run grain storage," Mr Alexander said. "They (the Broadbents) are prepared to take segregations and they are often open until late.

"In the past, they had opened until 2am."

Buangor grower Justin Clark said when truck queues built up through slow receival into the roll-over hoppers, Mr Broadbent allowed farmers to back their trucks into the stack to dump grain.