The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) has decreased the TB top-up payment a farmer would receive per unit of economic breeding index (EBI) as compensation for having bovine tuberculosis (TB) reactors in the herd.
Chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) dairy committee, Stephen Arthur told Agriland that the organisation is “looking for a full review on decreasing this top-up”.
With the improvements in genetics over the last couple of years, the average EBI has skyrocketed from an average of around €80 in 2014 to an average of €183 today.
According to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), the EBI has increased on average by €10 per annum over the past 10 years, with no sign of it slowing down.
TB top-up payment
Due to this rapid increase in EBI growth, the DAFM has decreased the payment per unit of EBI in line with what the average EBI in the country is today.
The top-up payment has been reduced from €1.05/unit of EBI to €0.75/unit of EBI, in which Arthur said “is a shortening of €55/cow on average, which means farmers are getting penalised for following the science”.
Arthur said that where the issues lie with this decrease in payment, is that where you have “a high EBI herd of cows, the market is not reflecting the value of those cows back for the actual value of the cows”.
“The big thing that is being missed here, is the fact that you’re losing your milk sales, which is not accounted for anywhere in the equation,” he added.
The chair of the dairy committee said that “as the farmer, we are getting hit for the milk sales and then for the department to come along and penalise us for following the science, and chasing the EBI, means we are getting hit at two crosses”.
The dairy cow income supplement rate is €100/month for the first five months and €65/month for the second five months for farmers if they lose 10% of the total herd or 10% of dairy cow numbers.
Speaking about this income supplement, Arthur said that “only 30% of dairy farmers are qualifying for this supplement”.
“If you lose 20% of your herd, you’re going to be down 20% of your milk cheque, and we are only getting €100 for five months and €65 for the second five months, which is completely ridiculous,” he added.
Arthur told Agriland that “TB is causing a lot of strain and stress and one bad test can wipe out a lifetime genetics. It costs a lot of money to replace that herd and that is not being accounted for”.
Decreasing the top-up payment is putting the farmer at a further disadvantage, as the farmer is already losing out on the value of their milk.