Farmers availing of reduced storage capacity for organic manures need to be aware of tighter criteria introduced on 1 January 2025.

From this date, any farm wishing to avail of reduced storage capacity by outwintering of livestock must not exceed a grassland stocking rate of 100kg organic nitrogen per hectare (N/ha) in the given year.

This is a significant reduction from the previous grassland stocking rate of 130kg N/ha and could have implications for sheep farmers in particular and some suckler/beef farms.

The allowance to reduce storage capacity by outwintering of livestock means that farmers can reduce their requirement under the Nitrates Action Plan (NAP) to have sufficient storage capacity for their livestock.

Required storage

Under the NAP, sheep farmers must have sufficient storage capacity for organic manures for six weeks, unless availing of the facility to reduce this requirement through outwintering. This is the case regardless of whether or not sheep are housed.

It is similar for suckler enterprises and cattle/beef farms.

Such farms must have the required capacity for organic manures for the zone they are farming in – ie enough capacity for 16 to 22 weeks’ storage regardless if animals use this housing or not. Dairy farmers cannot avail of the reduced storage facility for any animals on their farm.

Reduced storage

The reduced storage facility allows farmers to negate storage capacity for animals out-wintered falls under strict criteria, as outlined below:

  • The grassland stocking rate on the outwintering area for bovines (excluding dairy cows), cannot exceed 85kg N/ha during the relevant prohibited spreading periods, as outlined in Table 1.
  • The grassland stocking rate on the outwintering area for deer, goats or sheep, cannot exceed 100kg N/ha during the relevant prohibited spreading period
  • All the lands used for outwintering of livestock must be comprised within the holding
  • The livestock being outwintered must always have free access to the required lands to maintain the desired stocking rate.
  • Severe poaching must not occur.
  • Care must be taken to adhere to rules regarding buffer zones for feeding points, restrictions of feeding, etc – eg restrictions on supplementary feeding in ACRES parcels or in designated areas.

    • Calculating sheep stocking rate

    While farmers with bovines can monitor their grassland stocking rate via the Nitrogen and Phosphorus statements facility on agfood.ie, there is no such facility for sheep farmers. The Department uses the figures entered on the annual national sheep and goat census as the guide to the contribution from sheep, but depending on the system this could be inaccurate. If in doubt, farmers should maintain a record of average numbers per month and use a guide similar to outlined in Table 2, to record the level of N/ha from sheep on the holding. This will also need to be done for other animals such as horses, deer, etc. Table 3 details the volume of organic nitrogen and phosphorus produced per animal type.

    Storage required

    Table 4 and 5 are useful tables to calculate the volume of storage required for organic manures. In terms of cross-referencing this to available storage facilities, it is generally applicable to count farmyard manure building up under animals to a level of 0.3m to 0.5m in height.