Further extension granted for the spreading of livestock manure

A FURTHER extension of the period for the spreading of livestock manure, which includes farmyard manure and slurry, was announced yesterday.

Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith said that following consultations with the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Minister John Gormley, farmers will now be allowed to continue spreading until November 30.

Mr Smith said the decision reflects the continuing poor weather which has proven completely unsuitable for spreading livestock manure since the original extension was granted from October 15.

Mr Smith said he and Mr Gormley had previously acknowledged the adverse weather conditions had caused significant hardship for farmers and had made it extremely difficult to carry out regular farming activity.

The period within which farmers could spread livestock manure was previously extended for two weeks. This period expired yesterday.

Mr Smith said they had hoped the extension would have allowed farmers the opportunity to complete land-spreading activities which for reasons beyond their control had been curtailed due to the bad weather conditions.

“Unfortunately, this has proven not to be the case, and given the weather conditions over the past fortnight, the original extension has proven totally inadequate and the justification that applied for an extension two weeks ago is equally applicable today,” he said.

IFA president Padraig Walshe and Macra na Feirme president Catherine Buckley welcomed the decision.