A new equine herd profile facility was launched last week by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.

The Department highlighted that the herd profiles “mark another significant step in equine traceability and welfare, by linking every equine to a physical location, a responsible person and tracking movements from birth to death or export”.

The Department adds that equine profiles are a farmer’s view into the new central equine database which lists equines that are deemed to be under their care and control and linked to the equine premises registration number (EPRN) which, in many cases, is the farm’s herd number.

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Any farm registered as an equine premises on its database will receive a 2026 equine census in hard copy form and this will also include a hard copy of the equine herd profile currently linked to the EPRN.

Farmers can check their profile through the MyAgfood.ie portal and there is a responsibility on farmers to ensure that their profile is up to date by reporting movements of equines onto and off their holding. This includes animals being sold or exported while the profiles are also required to access supports or grants and can be used to complete the 2026 equine census (date of 31 July).

Minister Heydon said: “The new equine herd profiles are proof that this Government listens to the equine sector and delivers for it. Ireland’s horse industry is world-renowned and we intend to keep it that way. Smarter traceability, stronger enforcement, and better technology are all part of how we protect this sector’s reputation and back its growth.”

Accessing data online

The equine portal can be accessed from the home page by clicking on ‘view my animals’ and then by selecting the ‘access AIM services’ tab.

This will then offer users the opportunity to install the AIM services app or to select to launch the web-based application.

If users scroll down before selecting either of these options it will also give two other options.

The first is to launch an ‘equine chip checker’ which allows users to search an animal by its unique equine licence number (UELN) – its microchip number of the establishment number (herd/equine number) to see if it is approved to hold equines.

The second option is an application relating to equine registration and allows users to submit new and update existing registrations for Irish and imported equines.

If a user selects to access the AIM web-based system, they will be given the opportunity to select equines or sheep. Selecting the equine tab will present the option to select the ‘equine herd profile’.

Doing so will present a pop-up disclaimer stating that “the equine herd profile you are about to view is in the first phase of development and may not accurately reflect the equines in your herd. Add and remove equines to keep your profile up to date and confirm it if you have not already”.

This will then list the horses that are registered as present in your equine herd and from here producers can add or remove horses from the list. Users will also be asked to confirm that the information listed is correct.