The terms and conditions for the 2020 Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) and Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) will be published in the coming weeks.

Discussions appear to have started earlier for farmers who purchase cattle for summer grazing systems, while there are enforced changes coming down the line for almost 900 farmers who use donkeys to fulfil their stocking rate requirements, as donkeys will only be allowed to fulfil 50% of an applicant’s stocking rate requirements for 2020.

Before delving deeper into these issues, it is worth recapping on ANC requirements. There are no hints that the general stocking rate requirements will alter from 2019, with two aspects to meet.

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Applicants must satisfy at least a seven-month consecutive retention period within the calendar year (1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020), during which time the stocking density must be maintained equal to or greater than 0.15 livestock units per eligible forage hectare.

The second element of the requirement obliges applicants to maintain an annual average stocking rate of at least 0.15 livestock units calculated over the 12-month calendar year.

Failure to satisfy either of these requirements will deem an applicant ineligible for payment. The exception to this is where a lower stocking rate is commanded under an agri-environmental scheme or commonage framework plan.

Earlier purchasing

A number of mart managers and cattle agents comment that they are seeing interest at an earlier level in 2020, with farmers who left it late to purchase in 2019 having to contend with challenging ground conditions in autumn 2019.

The situation was escalated by beef factory protests delaying drafting of slaughter-fit cattle, with some farmers now attracted to having more options on the table.

While it is a long way off to say if this could materialise, the other factor that could see demand for stock rise earlier is that if we have an early spring, there will be increased demand from farmers who maintain the minimum stocking rate and sell silage or hay, with an oversupply currently in the market.

In many cases, these farmers are concerned with commencing the minimum retention period and will purchase the required numbers in February or March to satisfy this objective, followed by purchasing higher numbers when grass supplies improve for the main grazing season.

Donkeys and horses

As mentioned already, the other significant change is that donkeys will no longer be allowed to satisfy 100% of the stocking rate requirements and will be capped at fulling a maximum of 50% for 2020.

In the region of 900 applicants and upwards of 2,000 donkeys are used to claim ANC payments.

Table 1 details the livestock unit values for eligible animals. There have been some questions received in recent weeks regarding whether horses can take the place of donkeys.

Only equine breeding premises are eligible and even at this horses must satisfy a number of criteria to be deemed eligible.

As is the case with donkeys, all farms where horses are retained must be registered with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in accordance with SI No 8 of 2012, Diseases of Animals Act 1966 (Registration of Horse Premises) Order 2012.

Equines must possess a valid passport in the applicant’s name, with the passport updated when ownership changes. These passports will also need to be submitted to the ANC section once the farm’s minimum retention period has been satisfied.

An equine breeding enterprise is defined in the terms and conditions as a holding which has bred a foal in either 2018 or 2019 from a mare registered on the holding in 2019.

The mare must be registered in a stud book approved by the Department with pedigree recorded (sire and dam).

Donkeys must also be owned by the applicant who holds a valid passport, with the donkey registered in the name of the applicant.