John Lynskey, chair of the IFA sheep committee, and Kevin Kinsella, IFA director of livestock, met with a delegation from the Department of Agriculture on Thursday to discuss the new sheep payment.

The ICSA, led by secretary Eddie Punch and John Brooks, chair of the association’s sheep committee, met separately with the Department on the same issue.

The Department delegation was led by Colm Hayes, principal officer of meat and dairy policy.

The meetings were the first points of contact between the Department and the farm organisations since €25m for a new sheep scheme was allocated in the Programme for Government in May.

Both the IFA and the ICSA had been lobbying for a new sheep scheme prior to the money being allocated and had met with the Department for this purpose on a number of occasions before the new government came into power.

With over 2.4m ewes in the country, according to the most recent sheep census, the money going to farmers under the new scheme will work out at about €10/ewe.

We don’t want a carbon copy of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) for the sheep sector. There are too many differences between suckler farming and sheep farming

It was confirmed at the meetings on Thursday that this money will be coming out of the Rural Development Plan (RDP) under pillar two of the CAP.

A submission to include this new scheme in the RDP will have to be made before the end of June (the deadline for amendments to the RDP is 30 June) and Lynskey of the IFA said he is hopeful it will be approved in time for the Budget this year so that payment can commence in 2017.

“That was the commitment made in the programme for government so the Department needs to honour that commitment,” he said.

Wide range of options

He added that although it is inevitable farmers will have to meet certain criteria to participate in the scheme, he told the Department that it is important farmers have a wide range of options to choose from.

“There has to be a wide range of options for farmers. And if costs are incurred by adhering to some of the criteria, we want those to be kept to a minimum. It is possible that some farmers are already fulfilling the conditions of the scheme, whatever they may be, and so won’t have to incur any costs at all.”

Secretary of the ICSA Eddie Punch also said it is important that farmers can choose from a menu of options.

“We don’t want a carbon copy of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) for the sheep sector. There are too many differences between suckler farming and sheep farming. For example, there isn’t as much data available for sheep and there are also wide differences between types of sheep farming such as hill sheep farming and lowland sheep farming.”

Animal welfare

The ICSA wants the payment will be geared towards animal welfare rather than the environment as this will allow the payment to be made on a per-head basis rather than a per-hectare basis.

“For example, there could be options under foot-rot, fertility and mortality and anthelmic resistance. This would help to improve sheep farming while not making it exactly like the BDGP.”

Lynskey also believes the payment should prioritise animal welfare and added that it is a key payment for sheep farmers.

“This payment will be very important to sheep farmers,” he said. “It is a low-income sector and they need to be able to benefit financially from the scheme.”