Beer is emerging as a surprise helper for some drought-hit farmers in NSW.

Not the amber liquid itself, but a byproduct of its production, which three Illawarra brewers are sending to cattle farms in the region to help get the stock through the hardest drought in many farmers’ memories.

Early in the brewing process, the grain - mostly barley, sometimes wheat - is cooked to extract the sugars. When the solids are separated out afterwards, what is left over is a sludgy concoction of softened grains that cows don’t mind at all.

And with many of the region’s farmers forced to find alternative feed sources to keep their stock alive when grass isn’t growing in the paddocks, the barley "porridge" can help out.

With hay going past $300 a bale, farmers have been taking loads of orange peel, watermelon rind and whatever else they can find.