A temporary live export ban has been issued by the Department of Agriculture,  Food and the Marine for tomorrow, Saturday, July 20.

In a statement issued by the department, it was noted:

In view of the forecasts of another severe heatwave, road transport of live ruminants to/through continental Europe is prohibited as and from tomorrow morning, Saturday, July 20, 2019, until further notice.

This follows on from a similar ban that was imposed last month due to soaring temperatures on the continent.

The ban lasted a number of days before being lifted.

As in previous years there is a total ban for the months of July and August on the endorsement of Journey Logs for consignments of live animals by road transport to North Africa, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Croatia.

This ban is enforced by the Veterinary Inspector at the Assembly Centre. This list may be updated on the department’s website as needed, according to the authority.

N&P statements now available

Interim nitrogen and phosphorus statements (N&P statements) for the period January to May 2019 are now available on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s online system: www.agfood.ie, the department has announced.

These statements are particularly useful to allow farmers to plan for the remainder of the year, in order to ensure compliance with the limits of the nitrates regulations, thus avoiding penalties for breaching limits, according to the authority.

The limit for farmers is 170kg/ha of N, while the limit for those who hold an approved derogation is 250kg/ha, the department reiterated.

Farmers not already registered for agfood.ie can do so by logging onto: www.agfood.ie and clicking the ‘register’ button.