Farmers call for old tolerances on animal tagging to be reinstated

Farmer groups are aggrieved with stringent new regulations governing the inspection of animals, notably the fines for cattle whose tags have fallen off.

ICMSA president John Comer has called upon the department to reintroduce the 3% tolerance for non-compliance on tagging. He argues that the absence of tolerance in the new inspections takes no account of the realities of farm animal behaviour.

Mr Comer said: “Some animals can lose a tag or even two in a day. With the 3% tolerance for inspections, it was acceptable to have three animals lose their tags in a herd of 100.

“Now it is practically impossible for a farmer to be compliant. We want the old tolerances to be reinstated, to give farmers a workable inspection model that doesn’t make heavy fines virtually an automatic certainty.”

Department of Agriculture officials have met with the leaders of the ICMSA, the IFA and other farm groups to get their views on the formulation of regulations governing the 2012 single farm payments (SFP).

Mr Comer welcomed department initiatives such as the use of online maps which are much easier to update than the old physical maps.

The level of penalties remains an ongoing and serious concern for farmers, but Mr Comer also welcomed the department’s commitment that 66% of the area checks will be by remote sensing in 2012, which will mean no “on the ground” check for the farmer.

The ICMSA said this figure should be increased to cut costs to the depart- ment and cut the “hassle factor” for farmers.

The officials also said 30-40% of full cross- compliance inspections will take place in from April to June, reducing the concentration of in- spections from Nov to Dec.

The department stated that farmers who apply online and make adjustments to maps online that their cases will be dealt with first. It also expects to meet all payment deadlines for payments in 2012.

Mr Comer said: “The department will commence map digitisation three months earlier this year. This means that farmers will start receiving query letters from June rather than during the autumn period as heretofore. This is a welcome and long overdue development that should ensure that farmers are not receiving query letters just before they had been expecting their payment.”

Meanwhile, IFA deputy president Eddie Downey described the new inspection rules requiring farmers to assemble livestock for the reading of identity tags as “way over the top”.

The IFA spokesman met with senior officials in the Department of Agriculture in Portlaoise to suggest a more farmer-friendly inspection regime. He also called for more prompt processing, particularly for online applications.

Mr Downey said: “The department should be able to obtain a reasonable sample of tags without bringing all animals into the farmer’s yard. Assembling animals involves a considerable workload, creates undue stress, adds to costs, and is another farm safety risk.”

The IFA deputy president highlighted the need for earlier applications, speedier problem solving, processing and payments under the 2012 scheme. He said unannounced inspections are totally unacceptable.

He said that maps, digitisation, processing delays or inspections cannot be allowed to hold up 2012 payments later in the year. The department had committed to bring forward digitising work by three months.

Mr Downey said: “There are significant advantages in submitting on-line SFP applications. Apart from the commitment to be processed and paid earlier by the department, farmers and their agents can make changes to their applications and maps online. Last year, 54,000 applications were made online and every effort should be made to increase this number for 2012.”