Letters with updated figures under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) were sent this week to farmers who opted to defer their reduction year to 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. The letters will make for sobering reading for farmers who resigned themselves to not meeting the 4% to 5% reduction target.

However, they will provide a welcome update for farmers who are marginally over or under their target level and should act as a catalyst for action for those who are still hopeful of satisfying the requirements.

The reason for the swift action is that the timeframe left to make meaningful changes is diminishing quickly.

For example, selling an animal on Saturday 20 November will reduce the Department’s projected bovine nitrogen production figure by 2.76kg for animals aged less than one year old, by 6.56kg for one to two-year-old animals and by 7.48kg for animals aged over two years/suckler cows.

Contrast this to delaying for three weeks until 11 December for example and the savings are just 1.38kg, 3.28kg and 3.74kg respectively.

These may seem like insignificant differences, but I have discussed figures with a number of farmers since receiving their updated figures who are marginally over and may pull through by taking action now.

Waiting for the final updated figures letter will mean it is too late to react in any meaningful way.

Calculating figures

The projected level of nitrogen produced from 1 October to 31 December will take into account animals moving between age categories, but it will not account for animals that have moved in or out of the herd, or birth registrations since then. This is also the situation with the Department’s online calculator and as such, figures may need to be worked out on an individual animal basis.

For example, where animals have left the herd since 1 September, counting up the days that the animal will not be present up until 31 December and multiplying it by the relevant daily excretion levels will tell how much the projected bovine nitrogen figure can be reduced by. Likewise, the same can be done for animals entering the herd or for birth registrations. This is a tedious task, but it may be necessary where the margins for error are tight.

The task can be made easier by utilising the agfood system to download your herd profile to an excel sheet for 30 September, using this as a baseline and then viewing reports for animals moving in or out of the herd and print registration reports.

The daily excretion figures are 0.06575 for zero to one-year-old cattle, 0.15616 for one to two-year-olds, 0.17808 for cattle over two years/suckler cows and 0.23288 for dairy cows.

Scheme compliance

The latest scheme compliance figures released in mid-October showed that 8,600 farmers were at risk of a full clawback, as they were on track to miss the 4% minimum reduction requirement. Just 1,700 of those who deferred were on track to meet the 5% reduction target while 300 more farmers were on course to deliver a nitrates reduction of between 4% and 5%.

In terms of penalties between 4%-5%, a reduction of more than 4% but less than 4.4% will incur an 80% penalty; a reduction of 4.4% or more but less than 4.6% shall incur 60% penalty; a reduction of 4.6% or more but less than 4.8% shall incur 40% penalty and a reduction of 4.8% or more and less than 5% shall incur a 20% penalty.

At the time, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue outlined that the average payment of farmers who opted to defer is just less than €2,500.