Interim bovine nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) statements for the period of January 1 to July 31 have been published on the online Agfood system.

All farmers with cattle on their holdings are encouraged to check their interim statement as the revised excretion rates introduced in February of this year are now applicable.

This will result in significant changes for some farmers, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Appropriate adjustments have also been applied for dairy farmers that have opted to manage crude protein in the concentrates fed to their cows this year.

The department has also highlighted that a small minority of dairy farmers who have not confirmed their herd's dairy cow band for 2025 have been defaulted to the highest band of 106kg of N per dairy cow.

The department said that, where the higher band is not appropriate to the farmer's situation, they should confirm the correct band as appropriate to their herd.

The announcement comes a day after one farm organisation called on the department to release the statements as a matter of urgency.

The deputy president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Eamon Carroll, had said that it was "astonishing" that the updated statement for 2025 had not been published.

He had noted that the 2024 statements were published in July (2024), and with the introduction of the slurry movement app, Carroll claims it was expected that statements would be published earlier for 2025.

"The delay in finalising the interim statements has left farmers and advisors without the information and clarity needed to plan effectively for compliance as we enter the final weeks to export slurry and adjust cattle numbers or take temporary grazing," he had said.

The changes in excretion rates, confirmed in February, introduced revised nutrient excretion rates for calves to reflect their lower nutrient output, especially in their first 90 days.

Nutrient excretion rates for other cattle aged less than one year and for one- to two-year-old cattle were also updated to reflect Teagasc research.

The changes were also designed to recognise the lower nitrogen excretion rate achieved by dairy farmers who opt to manage crude protein in the concentrates fed to their cows across the year.