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An imported heifer from France has been detected with Bluetongue in Northern Ireland.
Although not deemed an “outbreak” until the disease is found to be circulating, farmers have been warned to remain vigilant.
The UK remains officially Bluetongue-free.
Restricted herd movements
Earlier this year, French cattle farmers were ordered to restrict their herd movements and vaccinate animals against the disease.
Bluetongue does not cause harm to humans, but can reduce milk yield and fertility in animals.
In October, imported cattle and sheep in Britain were found to have the disease.
“The Department is also tracing and testing associated herds and an epidemiological investigation has been initiated to assess the situation," according to a DAERA statement.
"This investigation will help determine if disease is circulating. However, as we are now outside the active midge period, this is highly unlikely.”
While the €50m in funding from the Commission and €50m from the Irish Government is confirmed, discussions are underway at Government level as to what departments the money will come from. \ Donal O'Leary.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed intends to pay the €100m Brexit beef fund to farmers in the autumn.
“The ambition is to see payments commence through the autumn period, but that is all dependent on the terms and conditions set by the European Commission,” a spokesperson for Minister Creed said.
The Commission will finalise the conditions of its €50m share of the fund at the next meeting of EU agriculture ministers in early June. The Minister then plans “rapid” engagement with stakeholders, before the scheme details are finalised and opened “as a matter of urgency”, his spokesperson said. No formal meetings about the €100m fund have yet taken place between the Department and farm organisations or factories.
If the €100m were to be paid on every animal slaughtered during the October 2018 to March 2019 reference period, it would equate to a payment of €111/head. However it is understood that a number of options are being considered.
Forestry consultants Veon have sold 4,074ha of Irish mature forestry plantations across the west of Ireland for an undisclosed sum to Paris-based AXA Investment Managers Real Assets.
This is the first investment in Irish agriculture for AXA IM, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. It noted that growth in Ireland’s “optimal climate” outperformed its other investments in Finland and France. Christophe Lebrun, the firm’s head of forestry, said this was the largest forestry sale in the UK and Ireland in recent years.
Timber boom
Irish timber is forecast to boom and “this acquisition provides us with a significant footprint at the early stage in this growth phase,” he added.
London firm Gresham House already controls 125,000ha of forestry in the UK and will manage this investment on behalf of AXA IM.
“It gives us a foothold in Ireland which may benefit our wider asset management business as Brexit unfolds,” Gresham House chief executive Tony Dalwood said, with climate change also a motivation.
Veon will continue to provide forestry services on the 185 plantations sold.
Niamh Muldoon and Peadar O'Scannaill, CEO and president of the veterinary council of Ireland.
Legal changes to the Veterinary Act are needed in order to give the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) the power to decide who can own veterinary practices, members of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture said on Tuesday.
Veterinary Council representatives told the committee that it can only regulate veterinary practitioners, not who owns the practices.
Members of the Oireachtas committee queried whether decisions made by a corporate owner of a veterinary practice could tie the hands of the vets working in it.
They asked if, for example, the corporate owner decided that a practice would no longer deal with large animals, could the Veterinary Council regulate this?
The answer from Veterinary Council registrar Niamh Muldoon and president Peadar O Scanaill was that such action does not fall under the council’s legislative remit.
“Before any corporate gets involved anywhere, the only person who can provide the service and influence the practice and decide what it is going to do is the veterinary practitioner,” O Scannaill said.
“There isn’t a fourth party. The vet is the first party, we [the Veterinary Council] are the second party, the farmer is the third party.”
A report by Grant Thornton into corporate ownership of veterinary practices is expected this summer.
Vets have voiced concern over the Veterinary Council saying it has no role in ownership of practices. They say this effectively de-regulates the sector.
The representative body for vets, Veterinary Ireland, says that the law is clear that non-registered persons can have no involvement in the practise of veterinary medicine.
“Our big concern with the lay corporates from the UK is that it will lead to the diminution of the service to farmers,” Veterinary Ireland CEO Finbarr Murphy said.
“Corporates can cherry pick the more profitable parts of the business such as small animal services. The experience in the UK is that services become regionalised and out of hours cover is either too expensive or unavailable.”