Pig and poultry farmers expect a tightening of the conditions attached to Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme III (TAMS III) funding as the investment ceiling for these sectors rises to €500,000.

Many are wary of the funding rise and anticipate stricter terms and conditions to accompany the ceiling’s jump from €200,000 under TAMS II. The grant rate is to remain the same at 40%.

It is expected that pigs will need to be reared with tails intact in any facilities constructed with grant aid under the new TAMS, as this had been the case in the previous scheme.

It is understood that no farmers applied under the last scheme after this condition was attached to funding.

“The proof of the pudding with this €500,000 will be in the eating. We will have to take a detailed look at the specifications and these specifications must be practical, they must make sense,” IFA pig chair Roy Gallie said.

The association’s poultry chair Nigel Sweetnam welcomed the inclusion of investment options which will improve hygiene on units and those which can support reduced antibiotic usage.

Steam washers and water treatment equipment for poultry houses are included in the investment list, but outdoor netting for free-range birds is not.

“Netting is included for fruit and veg but netting to keep wild birds away from poultry is not. Direct bird-to-bird contact is responsible for 90% of avian influenza cases, it will be a big loss,” Sweetnam told the Irish Farmers Journal.