The Department will accept 2017 instead of 2014 as the reference year for the number of animals in a herd in certain limited circumstances. In a recent letter to participating farmers, these include:
New entrants or young farmers. These may not have started farming in 2014, or have a very different number of animals this year.Applicants affected by force majeure circumstances in 2014.Farmers who would otherwise be excluded from the programme on the basis that they had substantially reduced the size of their herds since 2014.The opportunity to change the reference year is available only to participants in the second phase of the scheme.