There has been some questions following last week’s article on nitrates production, and its influence on slurry spreading requirements, regarding how farmers can track their level of output.

The Department’s MyAgfood.ie portal was upgraded last year to allow users to project nitrates figures on the farm, while also providing an overview of animal numbers by species or category and a forecasting tool to assist in checking the age of animals in the herd at a future date.

Projecting nitrates

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Once in the nitrates section, the system will present the user with a graph showing the monthly nitrates figures from bovines on the farm and the projected end-of-year figure based on current number of bovines.

This projection takes into consideration animals getting older and an associated increase in organic nitrogen values from animal’s changing age brackets.

Clicking on ‘My Nitrates’ will present more detailed data on the animal numbers and current age categories and also detail any relevant information on imports and exports or organic nutrients.

The system now also allows the user to edit cattle numbers and see how this influences end-of-year figures, while details of other livestock, such as sheep, pigs, poultry, etc, can be accounted for.

This facility can be accessed through the ‘Nitrates Planner’.

Details of other livestock entered here are an annual average figure. There is also potential for users to test how imports or exports of organic nutrients affect their end-of -year figure.

My animals

The ‘My Animals’ portal allows users the normal functionality of viewing your herd profile, registering an animal, generating a certificate of compliance/notifying movements etc, for bovines. Scrolling down on the homepage provides a summary of beef, dairy and sheep currently on your holding. There is a useful facility here for any farmer finishing beef cattle that allows them to select a future date and see how the herd profile will look.

This can be used to identify animals, for example, that will fall in to the over-30 months age category and potentially lose out on the higher Quality Payment System bonus. It also provides details on your herd’s status with regard to TB testing.