Midland Farmer - Spring 2024

Spring 2024
Planning
system for
slurry storage
‘completely
clogged’
The planning permission
system for
slurry storage is
“completely clogged”
at the moment, the
Joint Oireachtas
Committee on Agriculture,
Food and the
Marine has heard.
The comment was
made by the president
of the Irish Creamery
Milk Suppliers’ Association
(ICMSA),
Denis Drennan who
addressed the committee
yesterday
recently.
Drennan told the
committee that there
is currently a situation
where “anybody
and everybody” is in a
position in which
they can object planning
permission for
slurry storage.
He said it is “completely
ridiculous”
that somebody “living
300 miles away” can
object planning based
on the distance from a
Special Protected
Area (SPA) or Special
Area of Conservation
(SAC).
Drennan said there
is a “huge” number of
non-governmental
organisations (NGOs)
in Ireland who are
“making a full-time
job out of objecting to
farmers [doing] the
right thing”.
“On one hand part of
their organisation is
saying that farmers
need to spread slurry
at the right times and
have the proper facilities
in place.
“Yet the other wing
of the same organisation
can be objecting
and become serial
objectors to people
who want to do the
right thing,” the
ICMSA president told
the committee.
PLANNING FOR
SLURRY STORAGE
Drennan said that,
at the moment, planning
permission can
take up to 18 months,
even for “straightforward”
cases, which he
said is completely
“unacceptable” for
farmers.
He added that the
Targeted Agricultural
Modernisation
Scheme (TAMS 3) is
also “clogged up”,
stating that only 800
of the over 2,500 applications
for slurry
storage are approved
to date.
Stressing that farmers
“can’t have
enough slurry storage”,
Drennan said
that it is the “ultimate
goal” to be in a position
to spread slurry
when the weather
conditions are
favourable.
If a farmer is in control
of their slurry
and spreads it at the
most “optimal” time
in terms of grass
uptake, that is the
“most effective” for
farmers economically
and the environment,
he said.
FAST TRACKING
He said the planning
system and TAMS
need to be fixed, and
fast tracking of planning
and “maybe even
planning exemptions”
where farmers are
building on existing
farmyard is needed.
“We can’t have a situation
where getting
planning permission
can take up to 18
months and to get
approval for TAMS
takes another nine or
10 months,” Drennan
said at the meeting.
Under current
TAMS rules, where
farmers have less
than the legally
required slurry storage,
they are ineligible
for a TAMS grant
for slurry storage or
soiled water, the
ICMSA said.
The association is
proposing that if
farmers are below the
legal requirement and
wish to bring their
slurry facilities up to
20 weeks, for example,
they would be
required to pay the
full cost up to the
legal limit and would
get grant aid thereafter.
For example, if
farmers have 15
weeks storage in Zone
A (16 weeks), they
would pay for one
weeks’ storage and
would get grant aid on
the additional four
weeks, the ICMSA
said.
MIDLAND FARMER
Calf registrations surplus 300,000 for 2024
Calf registrations have now
reached 314,424 head for 2024,
with 96,628 registered in the last
week based on Irish Cattle Breeding
Federation (ICBF) data.
The data from ICBF applies to
calves that were registered before
16 February.
This time last year, some 434,763
head had been registered, which
means that based on the data, registrations
are down 120,339 compared
to last year.
CALF REGISTRATIONS
Looking at the data, 268,888 calves
have been registered to dairy dams
– this is down 104,442 head on 2023.
For this week, 87,906 calves were
registered to dairy dams, which
when compared to the same week
last year is down 62,588.
Some of the decrease may be due
to the National Genotyping Programme,
which is currently taking
12.5 days for calves to be registered
from tagging.
Moving to the calves registered to
beef dams, there have been 45,536
calves registered so far this year.
For the same period in 2023 some
61,433 calves had been registered to
beef dams, which means that numbers
are down 15,897 head.
For the week ending 16 February,
a total of 96,628 calves were registered
to dairy and beef dams –
9
which when compared to the same
period in 2023 is down 68,608 head.
For the same period in 2023, some
165,236 had been registered to dairy
and beef dams.
GENOTYPING
The National Genotyping Programme
is in its first year, and as of
13 February, more than 66,000 animal
passports were issued via the
programme.
ICBF has stated that the programme
is “progressing well” and
that on average, it is taking 12.5
days from birth to receiving the
animal’s passport.
Postage delays have been noted as
an issue in the receiving of samples
to the labs.
However, in the programme’s
information handbook, ICBF said
that including postage, the whole
process – from tagging to the issuing
of animal passports, can take
on average 10 to 12 days.
For more, see page 7