The 7c/head National Sheep Breed Improvement Levy, collected by the four largest lamb processors in Ireland, is set to increase by 8c/head from April 1, 2023, bringing the overall levy to 15c/head.
The National Sheep Breed Improvement Levy was introduced in 2012 following industry consultation to help fund the establishment of Sheep Ireland.
In a statement, Sheep Ireland said the funding had been pivotal to its success “as it has enabled the expansion of services and knowledge transfer, ultimately leading to more significant genetic gain of the national flock”.
The four sheep processors which collect the levy are as follows:
- Dawn Meats;
- Kepak;
- Kildare Chilling;
- Irish Country Meats.
According to Sheep Ireland, all of the farming organisations have been consulted in relation to this change.
In the statement the organisation also detailed that the levy increase will enable the National Sheep Breed Improvement Programme to “continue developing its offering to the Industry in several key areas that will be vital for the future of the sector”.
Where will the levy funds be used?
According to Sheep Ireland there will be further investment in the hill sector breed improvement, by allocating additional genotyping subsidies and human resources.
It also plans to identify bloodlines that produce the least methane while sustaining the same level of output and plans to collect more methane data on an annual basis from a range of flocks with parentage information.
The key areas the programme aims to deliver on includes:
- The development of a breeding programme for the hill-sheep sector;
- Identifying animals that produce less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on their genetic make-up;
- Breeding animals that better adapted to the deal with the anthelmintic resistance issue that will be a big challenge for the whole sector in years ahead.
The additional levies will also be used to identify the bloodlines that are least susceptible to anthelmintic resistance by capturing Faecal Egg Count (FEC) data.
Sheep Ireland subsidises lowland and hill ram breeders to cover the cost of genotyping their animals and has emphasised it wants “to be in a position to continue this subsidy, especially in the hill sector, which is just beginning the genotyping journey”.