Reports from advisers and equipment suppliers point to keen interest from farmers in TAMS-eligible equipment that offers labour-saving benefits and improved performance recording via new technologies. Items in the mix include automatic calf feeders, health and fertility monitoring equipment and electronic readers and weighing platforms.

The current tranche of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS III), tranche nine closes for applications on 5 December 2025. There have been numerous queries in recent weeks seeking information on when the outcome of applications submitted under this tranche would be known.

The latest TAMS statistics show that applications under tranche eight, which closed on 5 September, are progressing steadily – with 1,575 of the 5,364 applications submitted under tranche eight still in progress.

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However, there is now the added complication for the processing of applications in tranche nine, of ranking and selection being used in the approval process. This could further delay the approval process well beyond the current pace of upwards of three months, while for the first time in TAMS III there will likely be a significant number of items not granted approval.

Purchasing before approval

Many applicants under time pressure are considering purchasing mobile items before approval has been granted. Mobile items are eligible for grant aid where a purchase or deposit has been made after a grant application has been submitted and before full approval has been issued.

The Department of Agriculture is very clear in where the responsibility or risk lies in the case of an application not subsequently receiving approval – that is solely with the applicant. Any eligible investment submitted for approval has two bites at the cherry before being deemed unsuccessful.

The terms and conditions state that “where a valid application does not receive approval in the course of the first assessment or tranche which is carried out by the minister after the receipt of the valid application, the application will be carried forward to one subsequent assessment or tranche, unless withdrawn by the applicant. If the application is not successful in the subsequent tranche, it will then be automatically rejected and reset to a draft application”.

Mobile listing

If in doubt, the Department has published a definitive listing of items classified as mobile and fixed. In terms of calf-rearing equipment, both a computerised calf feeder and milk cart with mixer are mobile. Health and fertility monitoring collars/tags/boluses are mobile, as is the base station, including software.

Cattle weighing scales are a separate investment to handling systems and are classed as mobile. A sheep weighing scales is a mobile investment where purchased as part of a mobile handling system, but where it is purchased as a sub-investment of a fixed handling system then it is considered a fixed investment and, as such, approval must be received before it can be purchased.

VAT reclaim

It is also important to note that mobile equipment is not eligible for a VAT reclaim. There have been numerous appeals regarding items such as computerised calf feeding systems, or the base station of health and fertility monitoring systems, but Revenue has ruled that these items are not eligible.