The Department of Agriculture Food and Marine (DAFM) has today (Wednesday, November 29) announced a “short window” for dairy farmers to change their nominated banding rate, if they wish.
The new Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) for this year introduced the practice of banding.
It is part of a series of stronger measures being implemented by the EU to protect water quality, including the extension of the closed periods for slurry spreading.
Under this year’s changes, herds will be placed in one of three excretion bands depending on their average milk kg/cow.
DAFM
DAFM said that the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) portal has been opened until December 31, 2023 to allow a farmer to select a different option if they wish to re-confirm their 2023 band.
Earlier this year, dairy farmers engaged with the ICBF portal and confirmed their band rate for 2023.
However, the department said that reduced volumes of milk in 2023 have resulted in some farmers seeking to amend their selected options.
“These farmers have sought flexibility to change their band or nominate Option 3, using this year’s average milk yield,” DAFM said.
The department noted that in the vast majority of cases farmers are not required to do anything and the initial nomination earlier this year will remain.
Farmers that did not nominate an option have been categorised as at the highest output band.
Prior to the introduction of this system, each dairy cow in the country was assigned a standard figure of 89kg of livestock manure nitrogen (N)/head/year.
However, the department said that scientific research shows increasing milk yield also increases the dairy cow’s nutrient excretion rate.
Banding
DAFM has also published the following series of questions and answers in relation to the additional flexibility announced today:
I submitted my dairy band already this year. Do I need to do anything now?
No. The new flexibility is only for farmers who want to amend the option they selected. In cases this may reduce their herd’s 2023 nutrient excretion rate band. Farmers should only select to use current year data to determine their band if they know their nutrient excretion rate band for 2023 will not increase as a result.
Will many farmers choose to amend their nominated option to select how their band is determined for 2023?
Only a small number of farmers are expected to avail of this flexibility. The objective is to provide flexibility for those farmers that can and wish to change their dairy cow’s nutrient excretion rate band for 2023.
If I select to base my band on 2023 data (Option 3) when will my band be updated?
If a farmer wishes to select option 3, they will be defaulted to 106 kg N/cow/year, until both milk and animal data is available for the full calendar year. When this data is available in early 2024, their 2023 band will be confirmed. The correct nutrient excretion rate will then be applied for the full year 2023 to determine compliance with applicable limits.