Grant aid to upgrade quality of sow housing

THE upgrading and converting of sow housing to comply with new animal welfare standards will be grant aided to the tune of 40% of investments up to €300,000 by the Department of Agriculture and Food.

Launching the €13m Animal Welfare Scheme (sow housing), Minister Mary Coughlan said it is open to farmers with at least 60 income units from pig production.

Grant aid will also be available for preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements, as required. This Scheme will close for applications on December 31, 2006.

Minister Coughlan urged farmers to apply early so that the scheme work can be completed in a timely and structured way.

Welcoming the scheme for breeding sow accommodation, IFA Pigs Committee Chairman Pat O’Keeffe said it was extremely important for producers who have yet to convert old houses or construct new houses.

He said there has been a two year delay in introducing it, and called for maximum flexibility from the Department of Agriculture regarding applications and farm inspections.

“Unfortunately, it is clear from a number of producers that due to poor returns from pigs, they will exit the business rather than carry out these costly conversions,” he added.