Knackery owners have voted unanimously to not collect fallen animals from Wednesday of next week, as talks with the Department of Agriculture on a new fallen animal scheme remain in deadlock.

Farmers can still deliver fallen animals to knackeries, but the Animal Collectors’ Association (ACA) has warned that, unless a package is put in place, there will be full closure of knackery services.

“It is not financially viable to continue this service,” a spokesperson for the ACA told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Knackeries are seeking a scheme that protects farmers before they look “at increasing charges or withdrawal of services from some areas”.

Support package

Without a support package from the Department, knackeries will be “no longer viable to stay operational”.

A Department spokesperson said it is “engaged with the Commission in relation to a very substantial revision to the existing scheme and expects this engagement to be concluded in the very near future”.