Sheep farmers submitted the most applications for the 2024 intake of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).Farms with sheep as their primary enterprise submitted just shy of half the total applications with 338 submissions accounting for 48% of the 703 applications received.
Sheep farmers submitted the most applications for the 2024 intake of the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
Farms with sheep as their primary enterprise submitted just shy of half the total applications with 338 submissions accounting for 48% of the 703 applications received.
The Department of Agriculture announced this week that all eligible applications will now be accepted into the scheme.
This latest tranche of the Organic Farming Scheme means the land area will now be approximately 248,000 ha (5.5%) with over 5,600 farmers.
It is estimated that farms with sheep as their primary enterprise account for about 45% of participants who have converted or who are in the process of converting to organic farming.
The start date for the latest tranche of applicants to begin their conversion phase is 1 January 2025. Farmers must farm to organic standards at this stage.
LambPlus deadline
The application window to join the Sheep Ireland LambPlus Programme for the 2025 season will shut next week on Monday 16 December. According to Sheep Ireland, if you are a pedigree breeder of the breed societies that it hosts and plan to join LambPlus, you must first have a membership with the society.
The society will then set your account as a member of the relevant breed on the Sheep Ireland database. There was in excess of 1,450 LambPlus breeders in 2024 and this figure is expected to grow again in 2025.
If you are a breeder of a society not hosted by Sheep Ireland or a commercial or hill farmer/breeder who wants to carry out performance recording then an account can be created by contacting Sheep Ireland by calling 023 882 0451, sending a WhatsApp to 083 2063734, or emailing query@sheep.ie.
Sheep Ireland is encouraging hill farmers to adopt performance recording but for farmers who want to genotype and sell Sheep Improvement Scheme-eligible rams without progressing fully to LambPlus performance recording a commercial account can be set up without the need to join the LambPlus programme.
Over 600 hill sheep farmers are working with Sheep Ireland in such a manner with demand for SIS rams set to ramp up again in 2025 as farmers who have not purchased a ram to date must purchase one by the end of 2025.
There is a cost of €50 to €100 for pedigree flocks while commercial sheep farmers and hill farmers/breeders can sign up for free. See www.sheep.ie for full details.
Lowest sheep kill for a decade
The 2024 sheep kill is on track to be the lowest kill for over a decade.
Sheep throughput is running 315,000 head lower than the corresponding period in 2023 and could finish the year over 350,000 head lower than 2023 and over 400,000 head lower than the five-year average at the rate in which the kill is lagging behind.
The last time the kill was recorded at such a low level was in 2012 with throughput finishing the year at 2.43m head.
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