The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) is calling for nitrates figures to be updated on a weekly basis for farmers to keep track of their farm’s levels.
The association’s beef committee chair Edmund Graham is seeking updates on a rolling seven-day basis to enable farmers to keep on track of the levels of organic nitrogen on their farms.
“Farmers are currently working off figures dating back to August 31 which is totally unacceptable given the focus on nitrates, and the importance of managing your farming system to comply with ever tightening regulations,” he said.
Cattle-only nitrogen and phosphorous (N and P) statements from January 1, to August 31, 2023 are available through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The statements reflect land declared for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) scheme and also the declaration made online by dairy farmers through the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) to establish which nutrient excretion rate band is applicable to their herd.
Graham said: “Working with outdated data, it is virtually impossible to keep your farm compliant particularly in a trading system where animals are coming and going and can vary in age.
“At least with a dairy herd there is some predictability and stability with metrics not changing from one year to the next.
“The fact that calves can be registered for up to 27 days after birth is the argument the department has put forward in the past to explain the delays in updating nitrates figures but that is not relevant regarding a trading herd,” Graham added.
Nitrates figures
Graham said lessons needed to be learned from the BEAM (Beef Exceptional Aid Measure) scheme, which resulted in many farmers needing to repay aid money for not meeting a 5% nitrates reduction target.
“The situation then was grossly unfair with farmers trying to comply but having one hand tied behind their backs due to not having up to date figures,” he said.
The BEAM scheme saw the requirement to reduce the production on the holding of bovine livestock manure nitrogen by 5% for the period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, as compared with the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.
“We should not be finding ourselves with this same problem again,” the ICSA beef chair said.
Referring to the data regarding cattle that are bought, sold, or slaughtered, which is updated daily, Graham said it means “the technology should exist” for farmers to receive “up to date and accurate nitrates information on a weekly basis”.