The recent rainfall, although heavy in many areas, was needed on many farms to boost grass growth - with some farmers still having low growth rates after the drought-like conditions.

Grass growth in many areas had slowed down after a brief increase, due to the high levels of soil moisture deficits.

Although rain had arrived in most areas, soil moisture deficits remained quite high in most areas. However, the rain forecast for this weekend should correct these soil moisture deficits and result in good grass growth rates in most areas.

The latest figures from PastureBase Ireland show current growth rates of 54kg of dry matter (DM)/ha for Leinster, 53kg of DM/ha for Munster, 58kg of DM/ha for Connacht and 51kg of DM/ha for Ulster.

The warm weather along with the recent rainfall has resulted in an increase in predicted grass growth for the coming days.

There are predicted growth rates of 70kg of DM/ha forecast for Leinster, 65kg of DM/ha for Munster, 72kg of DM/ha for Connacht and 67kg of DM/ha for Ulster.

A lot of farmers are hoping that these growth rates do arrive after an extended period of many farms being somewhat tight for grass.

In some areas the recent heavy rain has resulted in land becoming somewhat soft under foot, but if good grazing management is used then this shouldn't be an issue.

Best practice is to make use of the different entrances and exits to paddocks to avoid damage around the gaps and use strip wire if and when needed.

Quality of grass is still a concern for many too - the amount of stem present in particular. However, farmers must remember that there is also plenty of high-quality grass present as well.

Although paddocks may look poor there is no need to rush out with the mower just yet.

Paddocks will need to be tidied up at some point, but this should only be done when grass supply is sufficient.

The preferred method to correct grass quality should be mowing and baling - pre-mowing or topping should be avoid where possible.