A farm organisation has told farmers to "note the names" of private contractors carrying out maintenance on hedgerows around electrical infrastructure.

The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) said it is "currently helping with a case" in which, according to the association, livestock were injured after breaking out, following damage to a fence.

Pat O'Brien, the association's Farm Business Committee chairperson, said that the ICMSA is advising farmers to identify the contractor teams carrying out the work "so that in the event of there being dispute over what had been done, or not done, by these contractors, farmers can cite the exact team, location and date".

He also advised farmers to take photos of "unsatisfactory jobs".

"We are having our attention brought to instances of stock being injured and drainage being blocked by shoddy work," O'Brien claimed.

According to O'Brien, farmers should be informed of the identities of the contactors, and should be ensured that the work is carried out to a required standard.

He said that it is wise for farmers to identify the contractor crews working on hedges; and that they should not assume that, if anything goes wrong, they will be able to identify the work crews after they have left.

"Right now, when stock is being brought back in from ‘out farms’ and farmers mightn’t be aware on a daily basis of who’s in those fields and paddocks a bit of a distance from the home farm, it's so important to know who’s on your land and what they are meant to be doing," the ICMSA representative commented.

ICMSA makes bluetongue appeal

Meanwhile, the ICMSA has also called on farmers to be "proactively vigilant in the face of a concerning rise" in the number of bluetongue cases over the past few weeks.

Chairperson of the ICMSA's livestock committee, Michael O'Connell, said that only about half of Ireland's mature breeding herds and flocks are currently vaccinated against the bluetongue virus (BTV).

Agriland previously reported that four million doses of BTV-3 (bluetongue) vaccines have now been supplied to private veterinary practitioners in Ireland, according to latest official figures.

O'Connell stressed that this figure was "a long way from fulfilling the needs of all breeding stock whether it be bovine or ovine".