Sheep Improvement Scheme

It is not surprising, given the scale of costs on farms and lower levels of confidence, that farmers are quickly moving on any barren ewes.

This has raised some questions regarding compliance with the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) reference number.

The scheme terms and conditions state that the reference number of ewes must be maintained and made available for inspection where required. Farmers can opt to reduce their reference number by notifying the Department in writing.

The Ts and Cs state “applicants are required to inform the Department before payment issues or prior to receipt of a notification of an administrative inspection if the number of breeding ewes they hold falls below the scheme payment reference number/most recent census figure.

The lower number of eligible breeding ewes will then become the eligible number for payment”.

Notification can be sent via email to sheepscheme@agriculture.gov.ie or in hardcopy form to Sheep Improvement Scheme, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Government Buildings, Old Abbeyleix Road, Portlaoise, Co Laois, R32 RPA6.

Despite calls to provide some flexibility around ewe hoggets being used to contribute to the reference number from 1 January in the year subsequent to their birth year, the rule has been retained that ewe hoggets will not count towards reference number calculations until they reach 12 months of age, i.e. ewe hoggets born on 1 March 2022 can be used to contribute to a flock’s reference number from 1 March 2023.

If you do not know your reference number it can be found by logging on to your agfood.ie account and clicking on to ‘Ag Schemes – Sheep Improvement Scheme’. This will present a pop-up box with contact details for the Department.

When you close this there will be an applications list detailing your application. There are three dots to the right of this information and clicking on this will trigger another pop-up giving the option to view your application which states your reference number.

Sheep census

The deadline to submit the annual sheep and goat census online via agfood.ie is Tuesday 14 February, 2023. The deadline to submit hardcopy applications was at the end of January, so the online avenue is now the only one available.

It can be accessed via the ‘Animal Identification and Movements’ tab in the agfood.ie homepage. From there, select the census drop down menu at the top of the page and this will provide the option to create or amend your 2022 census application.

Hill sheep conference

The Teagasc national hill sheep conference takes place next Wednesday, 15 February at 7pm in the Westlodge Hotel, Bantry, Co Cork. The topics are very timely given current challenges in the sector.

Jason Barley, AFBI will discuss ways to improve returns from hill sheep from a flock health and production perspective.

An overview of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme Co-operation programme for Kerry / West Cork will be delivered by programme manager Patricia Deane.

Staying with policy developments, Teagasc’s Damian Costello and Elaine Leavy will explain the practical implications of converting to organic farming for hill sheep farms, followed by a paper from Kevin McDermott, Sheep Ireland outlining what the genotyping ram action in the new sheep improvement scheme will deliver for the sheep sector.