There is to be an increase in the TB compensation payment rates paid to farmers, with a hike in TB disease levies payable by farmers to come into effect next year.

Under the income supplement, the compensation payment per dairy cow will rise from €55 to €100 for the first five months post-calving and €65 for months six to 10.

For suckler cows the payment will rise from €38.09/head to €52 for seven months post-calving and €40 for eight to 12 months and for beef cattle or “other” herds, it will rise from €25.39/head to €30.

Depopulation grants will increase from €220/head to €280 for dairy cows, from €152.36/head to €180 for suckler herds and from €76.16/head to €120 for other herds.

Farmers with a suckler herd will receive a hardship grant of €50/head, up from €38 currently, while dairy and other herds will see payments go from €25/head to €30. The rates are backdated to 1 February 2023.

Contribution

The Department of Agriculture has said the increased rates are “contingent on an additional levy contribution”.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, IFA animal health chair TJ Maher said: “The rates are not agreed yet, it will be calculated on 2023 income supplement application figures. For argument’s sake, if the income supplement goes from €6m to €7m [in required funding] then our calculations show that the levy will increase from 0.06c/l to 0.07c/l on milk and from €1.27/head to €1.40/head on cattle going to the factory.

“That is the worst-case scenario, it is our anticipation that it will be substantially less than that,” he said.

This will, in part, be due to farmers who are locked up with TB being able to buy in cattle without testing. Farmers who do this will then forego the income supplement payment, he said. An ICMSA spokesperson confirmed that any increase in compensation payments “above 2022 levels in 2023 will be paid by extra levies in 2024 from farmers”.

The Department also confirmed that a once-off contribution of up to a maximum of €70/head will be provided to breeding herds in 2023 that need to carry out required necessary additional testing of cattle over 36 months moved from one breeding herd to another breeding herd.

The Department is to commit an extra €3m this year for the wildlife programme.