More than 917 farmers received €2.7m from the Department of Agriculture last year in the form of the TB income supplement, new figures from the Department of Agriculture show.

This was an increase on 2016, when €2.1m was paid to 806 farmers under the income supplement, and on 2015, when €1.5m was paid out to 789 farmers.

The figures show that some 301 dairy herds with 8,763 cattle, 462 suckler herds with 5,642 cattle and 154 ‘other’ herds, understood to be beef farms, with 1,071 cattle, received the support last year.

Restriction

The income supplement is payable in cases where disease outbreak results in the removal of more than 10% of animals in a herd during the same restriction period and where depopulation is not deemed appropriate.

Under the supplement, dairy cows are worth €55.00 and suckler cows are worth €38.09. Numbers applying to the TB hardship grant, which runs from November to April, are also increasing year-on-year.

The figures show that from November 2016 to April 2017, while the number of suckler and beef farmers receiving the grant remain relatively static, the number of dairy herds has increased over 500%.

Almost €500,000 was paid out to farmers as of April of last year for 102,169 cattle. This increased on the year earlier from just under €300,000 for 41,709 cattle.

Meanwhile, under the depopulation grant, in 2017, 26 herds availed of the grant to the tune of €259,042.

TB numbers

IFA animal health chair Pat Farrell said the increase in the number of farmers qualifying for the hardship and income supports is in direct recognition of the significant changes secured by the IFA in the last few years.

The IFA will be looking for all compensation schemes to be built on further to fully offset the cost burden of TB eradication control on farmers.

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