For many farmers, selecting options for GLAS, or tranche three of the Green Low Carbon Scheme, is a balancing act on increasing your chances of getting accepted, if the scheme is oversubscribed, and maximising the level of payment received.

Reports suggest many low-stocked cattle and sheep farms are being encouraged to select the wild bird cover option to secure them access to Tier 1 or Tier 2.

Wild bird cover involves sowing a crop in spring and letting it mature and go to seed to provide winter food for farmland birds. While the option attracts a payment of €900/ha, up to a maximum area of 3ha, there are significant establishment costs. Furthermore, many farms located on marginal lands are not keen on maximising the area sown.

The high-water status option can also boost potential income but this suits only a percentage of farms, as does dry stonewall maintenance.

This leaves many farmers considering the option of low-input permanent pasture and traditional hay meadows as a means of optimising their payment. Low-input permanent pasture has a payment of €314/ha, while traditional hay meadows has a payment of €315/ha. With up to 10ha allowed as a combination of the two, it means farmers can draw down over €3,100 if they opt for the maximum area. If choosing just low-input permanent pasture, over €1,500 can be got.

An added enticement for many farmers is that the actual cost of implementing these actions is low compared with some of the other actions that require significant investment. However, while this may seem like the case on the periphery, farmers must be mindful of the effect that these measures can have on the output potential of the farm.

Those with traditional hay meadows in 2016 can readily identify with the negative influence the option can have on the quality of hay or silage saved if conditions are not suitable at harvesting. Unsuitable weather in the midlands and west in particular delayed harvesting of many crops, with quality hit hard. Where the entire winter forage requirement is being saved in this manner it can quickly erode the money received under the measure if it results in animal performance being hit hard and concentrate usage and costs rising drastically.

The two measures are summarised below to give a more in-depth picture.

Low-input permanent pasture

Low-input permanent pasture can be practiced on a maximum area of 5ha. This action is not readily suitable for very intensive or highly stocked farms. DAFM specifications say that where GLAS participants are approved for a nitrates derogation (farming in excess of 170kg org N/ha) in any year of the GLAS contract they will be ineligible for this action. If it is selected and the stocking rate subsequently breaches 170kg organic N/ha, there will be clawback of any payments made relating to this action. Farmers should also look closely at the pasture they are considering including. The pasture must contain less than 30% ryegrass and a minimum of four grass species (cocksfoot, timothy, bent grasses, fescues, Yorkshire fog, etc) and three other non-grass plant species (plantain, chickweed, etc).

The sward must be maintained in a productive state by grazing with owned livestock on the farm at the time of application and each year during the contract. The area selected at the outset must remain the same for the duration and parcels cannot be cut for hay or silage at any stage. They can also not be topped between 15 March and 1 July annually. Pesticides can be used to treat noxious weeds and rushes, with only spot spraying or weed wiping/licking allowed.

The maximum chemical nitrogen allowable is 40kg N per ha annually (approx 1.2 bags CAN/acre) while lime can be spread on the analysis of soil sample results provided it has been traditionally applied. No reseeding of the parcel can take place which may further limit the production capacity of the area.

Traditional hay meadows

Similar to low-input permanent pasture, traditional hay meadows cannot be selected where the farm is in receipt of a nitrates derogation. Similar restrictions on sward make-up apply but in this case ryegrass cannot make up over 50% of the sward. There must be a minimum of three grass species such as cocksfoot, timothy, bent grasses, fescues, Yorkshire fog, etc, with grasses dispersed widely through the sward. Parcels must also have been declared as forage on Basic Payment Scheme applications for the previous eight years.

All areas of the parcel must be eligible to be mown annually and grazing cannot take place from 15 April until after the meadow is mown following the permitted harvesting date of 1 July onwards. Ideally, it is required to save hay but where weather does not allow, silage can be saved provided the crop is turned twice before collecting.

Similar restrictions of 40kg chemical nitrogen per ha are in place, as is topping from 15 March until after the sward is mown. Noxious weeds and rushes can again be controlled by mechanical means in the permitted time frame or by using spot spraying or week wiping/licking.

As is the case with both low-input permanent pasture and traditional hay meadows, supplementary feeding of sheep can take place on the pasture provided troughs and hay racks are moved regularly to avoid poaching. Where located on a Natura site, feeding must not negatively affect the Natura site.

Cross compensation

DAFM is very clear in its instruction that traditional hay meadows and low-input permanent pasture cannot cross compensate for each other. If 5ha of each is selected, this must remain the case for the duration of the contract.