For many farmers in the southern part of the country, unsettled weather is not what they want to hear.

For those that got little or no rain last week, they are looking for a settled period of wet weather in order to replenish soil moisture deficits.

Last week at the Shinagh owned Gurteen farm open day in west Cork, farm manager Kerry Desmond was planning to start feeding silage this week as growth rates were crashing and the farm was visibly burning up.

That’s not the same in all places but where soil moisture deficits are biting, rain is needed and while the forecast is looking promising in terms of delivering that rainfall, the unsettled nature means some farms might not get as much as they need.

For other farmers that are looking to get silage harvested, the unsettled weather is not what they want to hear.

Despite soil moisture deficits in many parts, most farms continue to grow well with figures from PastureBase showing that growth rates meet or exceed demand on average.

There is obviously variation in this but it indicates to me that most farms continue to grow well and rain this week will keep grass growing.

Where soil moisture deficits are more severe and where fields have turned yellow then it will take longer for growth to bounce back after the rain comes.

Doing a grass walk is essential to better understand where the farm is at in terms of growth and grass availability.

Ideally, you would like to see the cover per livestock unit somewhere between 180kg and 200kg per cow and to see growth rates meeting demand with only minimal amounts of meal being fed.

If farm cover is lower than 180kg/cow, the first question to be asked is what is happening to growth. In other words, is farm cover increasing or decreasing and at what rate.

This is all determined by the difference between growth and demand. Whether or not extra supplement is required or not depends on the size of the gap between the two.

If it’s a narrow gap and if the farm is still green and growing and likely to increase over the coming days then it’s possible that the farm will get away without increasing any supplement.

If on the other hand growth rates are low and cover per cow is behind target then additional supplement will be required. This can be achieved through putting in extra meal or feeding some silage.