Some biblical levels of rain for this time of year fell in the last few days in certain areas of the country.

Shannon Airport saw 378% of its usual rainfall between Wednesday 9 and Wednesday 16 July, while Gurteen saw 209% of normal rainfall in the same period.

Considering rain only began falling on Sunday evening, it’s an intense amount of rain in a short period of time.

On the flip side, some areas in the extreme south and southeast are only just broaching above normal rainfall levels.

Even at this, it is some comfort to these farmers who have seen little to no rainfall in the last few weeks and will hopefully help to return them to more normal grazing management practices.

If you are in the former, you are likely in an oasis of grass. The northern half of the country has generally seen ample growth throughout the main growing season, with a lot of fodder in particular gathered last week.

Appetite

There may not be a huge appetite among farmers to take out more surplus grass in the form of bales, nor may there be a need.

A viable option in this case would be to take out some poor-performing paddocks for an autumn reseed instead.

If you were to look at the timeline, there is every chance that a grazing could be achieved in mid-late September with cattle, with an additional grazing in October with lighter stock.

Farmers will often highlight that taking out a paddock for reseeding in year one does little to affect the quantity of grass this paddock produces, as even with the paddock having to be sprayed off and taken out of the rotation, the new seed will outperform the older sward, especially in the back end of the year.

If you are planning on reseeding, get to it soon to allow for the all-important post-emergence spray and grazing to take place in good weather conditions.

If you are in the opposite boat and are still seeing growth in the 30s and 40s, you will be looking to build cover.

Be cautious about pulling the plug on supplementation too quickly, as lush, light covers will be mown through like after-grass. If there has been a pause on fertiliser application in the dry spell, get back out with some now in the form of some protected urea.