Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has today (Wednesday, February 22) confirmed the nitrates banding options that will be available to dairy farmers this year.
It comes as all dairy farmers can now use the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) website to confirm which option they wish to select for 2023 along with their associated band.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) said that farmers should submit information to confirm the 2023 excretion rate band for their herd by March 16, 2023.
DAFM noted that a “small number” of dairy farmers have not consented to their milk purchaser sharing their data with ICBF.
These farmers will have to ask their milk purchaser to complete a statement and provide supporting information to the department so their herd excretion rate band can be determined.
Banding
Up until the end of 2022, all dairy cows in the country were considered equal in producing 89kg of livestock manure nitrogen per head per year.
However, the department said that scientific research has shown increasing milk yield also increases the dairy cow’s nutrient excretion rate.
In order to reflect this research, the banding system for dairy herds is being introduced.
From 2023 onwards each dairy herd will be assigned to one of three bands each year based on the herd’s average annual milk yield per cow as follows:
Band Herd average milk yield Nitrogen Excretion Rate (kg/cow/year) 1 <=4,500kg 80 2 4,501-6,500 kg 92 3 >6,500kg 106
Minister McConalogue has confirmed today that a farmer can select one of the following three options to determine their herd’s average milk yield to confirm their 2023 band:
- The rolling average for the three preceding years (2020, 2021, 2022);
- The most recent preceding year (2022);
- The herd’s 2023 average milk yield (available for 2023 only).
Minister McConalogue said that he was conscious that introducing banding “is a new and significant additional requirement for dairy farmers”.
“This requirement was, however, a necessary part of securing our Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) and Nitrates Derogation at EU level.
“I have been keen to make this introduction as flexible as possible and can confirm three options for the 2023 year,” he said.
The minister encouraged all dairy farmers to engage with the ICBF portal “as soon as possible”.
“This will allow them to confirm their 2023 banding category and plan to manage their farm accordingly to ensure compliance with the Nitrates Regulations, including where appropriate the stocking rate limits set under the Nitrates Derogation.
“Protecting and improving Ireland’s water quality is critical to our industry’s ambition, and to maintaining Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation into the future,” McConalogue said.