Herd owners in NI are allowed 15% of their herd to have a single missing ear tag before penalties are applied to payments, a DAERA spokesperson has confirmed.
On enquiry, a department spokesperson said that the threshold which came into effect in January 2016 still applies for cross-compliance inspections in the 2019 scheme year.
Earlier this month, the Irish Farmers Journal reported that breaches relating to cattle identification and registration were the most common cause of penalties during cross-compliance inspections in NI last year.
With cattle registrations, farmers are required to notify DAERA of both movements and deaths within seven days. All births must be registered within 27 days, calves have to be double-tagged within 20 days and missing or unreadable tags should be replaced within 28 days of discovery. A paper, electronic or online herd register must also be kept up to date in a DAERA-approved format.
In a cross-compliance inspection, administrative checks are carried out on the herd and penalties apply if over 30% of notifications have been late during the scheme year. There is no allowance for cattle with both ear tags missing before penalties apply.
On sheep farms, different allowances for missing tags apply as part of cross-compliance rules. Flock owners are allowed 10% of their flock to have both tags missing and 30% can have a single tag missing before penalties apply. Missing or unreadable tags in sheep flocks should be replaced within 28 days.
Penalties
During an inspection, if a farmer is found to have missing tags below the permitted thresholds, they will be issued with a cross-compliance warning letter and no penalty will be imposed if they replace missing tags within 28 days.
If the number of missing tags is above the thresholds, fines worth 1% to 5% of area-based payments will apply if the breach is considered to have been caused by negligence.
However, cross-compliance penalties between 15% to 100% of payments are applied if it is deemed that the farmer intentionally breached cross-compliance rules.
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Cross-compliance changes for 2016
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Herd owners in NI are allowed 15% of their herd to have a single missing ear tag before penalties are applied to payments, a DAERA spokesperson has confirmed.
On enquiry, a department spokesperson said that the threshold which came into effect in January 2016 still applies for cross-compliance inspections in the 2019 scheme year.
Earlier this month, the Irish Farmers Journal reported that breaches relating to cattle identification and registration were the most common cause of penalties during cross-compliance inspections in NI last year.
With cattle registrations, farmers are required to notify DAERA of both movements and deaths within seven days. All births must be registered within 27 days, calves have to be double-tagged within 20 days and missing or unreadable tags should be replaced within 28 days of discovery. A paper, electronic or online herd register must also be kept up to date in a DAERA-approved format.
In a cross-compliance inspection, administrative checks are carried out on the herd and penalties apply if over 30% of notifications have been late during the scheme year. There is no allowance for cattle with both ear tags missing before penalties apply.
On sheep farms, different allowances for missing tags apply as part of cross-compliance rules. Flock owners are allowed 10% of their flock to have both tags missing and 30% can have a single tag missing before penalties apply. Missing or unreadable tags in sheep flocks should be replaced within 28 days.
Penalties
During an inspection, if a farmer is found to have missing tags below the permitted thresholds, they will be issued with a cross-compliance warning letter and no penalty will be imposed if they replace missing tags within 28 days.
If the number of missing tags is above the thresholds, fines worth 1% to 5% of area-based payments will apply if the breach is considered to have been caused by negligence.
However, cross-compliance penalties between 15% to 100% of payments are applied if it is deemed that the farmer intentionally breached cross-compliance rules.
Read more
Tags and nitrates lead to penalties
Cross-compliance changes for 2016
Stricter sheep tagging controls on the way in NI
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