As my phone rings off the hook with breeders and producers asking, ‘What can I get and when can I get it?’ I thought I’d better find out.

The list of applicable equine infrastructure available through the TAMS III scheme has caused plenty of positive chat. What’s not to like? Everything from American barns to sand gallops is included.

Grant funding

All eligible equine farmers will be able to avail of funding up to €90,000 as part of the Animal Welfare and Storage Scheme.

The official terms and conditions won’t be finalised until mid-March when the scheme opens for applications, but I’ve spent a good bit of time looking at how the whole thing works and have spoken to a representative of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to get a bit of a head’s up.

Applying for these types of agricultural grants are second nature to farmers in other sectors, for the equine sector however, they are new.

The TAMS grant application is not for the faint-hearted, and there are plenty of things you need to have in place before applying – you can’t just fire up a barn then ask for the money.

Not everyone is in a position to pay up front, and some may just hope their friendly contractor will take an approval from DAFM and wait for part-payment until they’ve drawn down the 40% grant (60% if you are young farmer, 60% if you are a female farmer). Note to self, more tea and biscuits for my contractor.

Farm Advisor

Small errors in an application form can cause big losses in grant aid – for those of you who choose not to employ a farm advisor, there’s phone and email technical support from DAFM.

Applicants must be DAFM registered – this means having your equine premises number, you must be eligible and have applied for your Basic Farm Payment (BFP) too, and you must have a minimum of five hectares owned or leased.

In the meantime, according to DAFM, the Ts&Cs for the previous TAMS II scheme are very similar to the upcoming scheme, and it’s maybe a good idea to familiarise yourself with the terminology and eligibility.

Grants need to have approval from the Department before investing – you can’t invest now and claim later. The window for applications will be three months and will close in mid-June.

All applications are evaluated on a points system, this is not a first come first served system.

Any applications not approved will automatically roll over to the next round for consideration. It is important to note that whatever you claim for on your application must be exactly what you purchase, otherwise you can receive a 100% penalty on inspection and you may get zero.

This is by no means an exhaustive guidance list because that list isn’t finalised by DAFM yet, but it sketches out the possible process.