It was recently announced that sheep fencing will be covered in TAMS II. Applications for the sheep fencing scheme are only being made now. Farmers who applied are not allowed to start work until they receive approval from the Department. Fencing contractor Joseph Mockler from First Class Fencing erected a new fence that meets the Department’s grant specifications to demonstrate some of the requirements. The Irish Farmers Journal called out on the day to see what’s involved. First of all, Joseph prepared the site by removing any hills and levelling hollows to leave the ground even for sheep wire. He also erected a guidance string so intermediate stakes are kept in smooth alignment.

Joseph used 2.4m (8ft) strainers at the beginning and end of every length of fencing. The end strainers were further secured with stays to prevent any movement when the wire is strained. One strainer was also used where there was a significant change in direction (>30 degrees) in the middle of the fence line. The intermediate posts are all creosoted NSAI approved stakes and are 1.82m (6ft) high, spread at less than 5m intervals. The Department says that intermediate posts can be labelled by the bale. Joseph used creosoted NSAI straining posts. These are all labelled individually with a unique number.

Once all the straining posts and intermediate posts were erected, Joseph set about straining the wire. First, the high-tensile sheep wire was tied around the first straining post. From there, an attachment on the front loader of the tractor made it easy to roll out the sheep wire. When it was rolled out, Joseph attached the end of the wire to a homemade clamp and chained it to the tractor front loader. By reversing the tractor, the wire was strained evenly from the clamp. The wire was stapled on to the intermediate posts and tied around the last strainer. The sheep wire was kept approximately 80mm above ground level.

Next, the high-tensile barbed wire and the electrified line wire were erected. In TAMS II, participants in the sheep fencing scheme only get paid for sheep mesh wire and one strand of wire, which can be either barbed or electric wire. Joseph decided to go for one strand of electrified wire and one strand of barbed wire because he believes that is the most suitable fence for mixed livestock farms. The barbed wire was erected above the sheep wire. The electrified line wire was placed above this, insulated and strained using a chain strainer. The electrified wire was 1.1m (3.6ft) above ground level.

A gate was also erected on the fence line. The specifications of the fencing scheme require that all gate hanging posts and closing posts must be independent of any fence post. Therefore, Joseph had to erect separate posts in order to hang and to close the gate. These posts could not be used for straining wire. The gate posts like the strainers were 2.4m (8ft) high. A drill was used to bore a hole for the gate hangers. The gate itself is a 12ft wide hot-dipped galvanised sheep gate.

Farmers planning on erecting fencing through TAMS II should download a copy of the specifications required to avoid any errors. The main specifications for sheep fencing are listed on the Department’s website under S148. The fence Joseph erected is very high spec and higher spec than the Department minimum specifications but will have a long life expectancy.

Materials

Farmers who want to erect a fence with the aid of TAMS II are not restricted to just timber posts. Concrete, steel and plastic posts are eligible for grant aid once the supplier is registered on the Department’s list of accepted fencing post suppliers (S148A). Cresoted posts are not necessarily required but all posts should be IS436-approved. All materials purchased have to meet the Department’s specifications to be eligible for grant aid. If using timber posts, a fencing post certificate must be completed. Sheep wire must be a minimum of 800mm high with eight horizontal wires.

Field layout plan

For sheep fencing, a farm field layout plan to a scale not greater than 1:5000 or Basic Farm Payment application map, together with LPIS numbers identifying the parcels where fencing is proposed and showing the location of all proposed fencing and gateways, must be included with the online application showing the lengths of proposed fencing lines.

Where more than one type of fencing is applied for, or if it is a mountainous site, the type of fencing and fencing length (for each type of fencing) must also be indicated on the plan/map.

Costings

Unlike the original sheep-fencing TAMS scheme, farmers do not have to keep a minimum number of sheep to be grant eligible in TAMS II. For lowland areas, sheep mesh wire with one strand of wire costs €5.34/linear metre on the Department’s reference cost list. For mountain sheep mesh wire with one strand of wire, the Department has a reference costing of €8.01/linear metre. A gateway is costed at €299 per gateway. Certain conditions have to be met to qualify for the mountain payment rate. There is no difference in the type of fencing used on mountains and the difference in costing relates to accessibility costs. Fences can be erected on existing banks and walls once the specifications are met.