Kieran McDermott from Clones, Co Monaghan, is dairy farming in partnership with his father Jim.

Kieran submitted a TAMS II application for milking and storage equipment in the second tranche just before it closed at the end of March.

“I applied for a 12-unit machine, 8,500-litre bulk tank, 24 cow feeders, a water heater, auto washer, plate cooler and meal bin, which came to a net total of €80,000,” said Kieran.

Since he is a qualifying young trained farmer, Kieran and Jim were able to apply through the Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme.

“We will be able to get a 60% grant on the first €80,000 we invest and will still be able to apply for grant aid up to another €80,000 where the grant aid will be 40%,” said Kieran.

Partnership

The McDermotts set up the partnership two years ago with the help of their Teagasc adviser and they didn’t find the process too difficult. The partnership was required to maximise the amount of grant aid they are eligible for in the TAMS II schemes.

A Teagasc adviser did the TAMS application, which cost €165. A farmyard sketch was needed, their partnership number and a copy of Kieran’s education qualifications, as well as proposed costings for the investments.

Loan

Kieran said they called Ulster Bank over the phone and, after sending in some documents and showing ID, they got a bridging and term loan organised. The bank looked for their TAMS application, tax clearance number, three years’ accounts and financial projections. “The bridging loan will be paid back after the grant money is paid,” explained Kieran.

Approval

The initial application was made in March 2016 and they got approval to buy and install the equipment in July of that year. However, the building work for the new parlour was not finished on time for the equipment to be installed.

The McDermotts were doing the building work themselves, which involved renovating the existing parlour. While this work was being carried out, a temporary 10-unit one-sided parlour was supplied by the company selling the new parlour to be used in another shed when their own parlour was out of action.

The new parlour was installed at the beginning of March 2017 and installation of the equipment took just four days and it took a further three days for the electrical work to be completed.

Payment application

When all the equipment was installed and everyone was paid, Kieran went to his adviser to make a payment application.

“We gathered all the invoices and made sure they were marked paid and both names were on each invoice. We also had to supply folio numbers and the tax clearance number,” explained Kieran. This application was made in July 2017 and Kieran hopes, all going well, payment will issue in September.

This article was published in the Irish Farmers Journal Farm Buildings 2018 annual. Click here to order your copy