IT'S a happy ending for former farm dog Jimmy, who in the face of the drought had found himself stranded in Coffs Harbour.

Jimmy hails from a farm in the central west of NSW near Bathurst but the pressures of the drought that continues to ravage the state forced his family to sell their entire land, stock and even their kelpies.

Family friend Lea Wulf had been re-homing the kelpies. Jimmy was due to be adopted by someone from Moonee Beach who backed out at the last minute, leaving Jimmy stranded.

For about six weeks he stayed at Tarraray Pet Retreat.

After his story appeared in The Advocate last week, Ms Wulf said she was bombarded with calls from all around Australia from people who were touched by the story and wanted to open their home to Jimmy.

But it was the Howard family from Coffs Harbour that were the clear winners.

"They were the first to call,” Ms Wulf said.

"I've lost count of how many calls I got. I had them from Tasmania, out west, Queensland, Victoria. It was shared on Facebook everywhere.

"But I must admit, if I could have put the prayer out there and had it answered for exactly what I knew Jimmy needed, the Howard family fit the brief perfectly.”

Renee and Tony Howard have six young children and had previously adopted a former farm dog and rescue kelpie, Yogi.

"A couple of years ago we rescued Yogi but now she's getting quite old and she's struggling to keep up with the kids,” Mrs Howard said.

"We thought we'd look for a new addition to take the pressure off her.

"Then we saw Jimmy in the paper and thought it was meant to be.”

Ms Wulf said it was "phenomenal” to see Jimmy's reaction to his new family.

"There are six kids - I thought, well, he's got to have something to muster now he's not herding sheep,” she joked.

"The thing that got me was the kids were just gorgeous and loved Jimmy immediately and it was mutual.

"Jimmy loved them immediately too. It was a phenomenal reaction.

"I'd like to thank Tarraray for their help, they didn't charge me a cent to keep Jimmy there.

"I also want to say a huge thank you to the Coffs community and their support.”

Ms Wulf said the farmer was happy to hear about Jimmy's new family.

He and his family were only able to keep one of their eight kelpies.

The family is one of many doing it tough during what is now one of the worst droughts on record.

Farmers will, however, see some relief this weekend as rain is forecast to fall across NSW.