DAERA to assist with removal of fallen stock following recent flooding

Date published: 1 September 2017

It is one of a number of measures DAERA has put in place to support farmers affected by the serious flooding in the North West.

DAERA will arrange for the collection and disposal of the animals provided landowners can arrange for these to be taken to suitable areas of hard standing. Any such collection location must be accessible to large vehicles.

This is not a compensation scheme. However, in order to prevent the development of animal and public health issues, DAERA will manage carcase collections in the week commencing 4 September.

Farmers in these affected areas are invited to contact DAERA as soon as possible (before 4pm on 7 September) to avail of this support. Telephone 0300 200 7840, ask for your local Divisional Veterinary Office (Omagh or Strabane) and provide details of the number and type of stock to be collected and a contact number.

Farmers whose cattle drowned or are missing are also advised as follows:

• If cattle have died and you know their tag numbers notify the deaths in the normal way using an MC1 document or using APHIS online. If you don’t know the tag numbers of the animals tell your local DAERA office how many animals are involved.
• If cattle are missing, inform your local DAERA office providing the number of animals involved and if possible their tag numbers.
• Where the initial information provided to DAERA does not include tag numbers, these should be provided as soon as you know them.

In light of the impacts of the extreme conditions, DAERA is adopting a flexible approach to late notification of animal losses from affected premises. The above actions will help to ensure that late notifications of these events do not impact on cross compliance for the businesses affected.

There is no change to the current requirements to notify deaths and movements of cattle within seven days for herds unaffected by the flooding.

DAERA is reminding all impacted farmers to submit their force majeure applications as soon as possible ahead of 14 September to ensure they do not miss out on EU payments schemes. The form can be used to notify DAERA of force majeure issues arising for all schemes including Basic Payment, Areas of Natural Constraint, agri-environment and woodland schemes.

Staff from DAERA’s Area-based Schemes, NIEA, CAFRE and Veterinary Service as well as Department for Infrastructure (DfI) will be providing advice clinics next week (between 9am and 5pm) at Glenelly House, Plumbridge on Monday 4 September, and the Roe Park Hotel in Limavady on Tuesday 5 September. CAFRE will also be issuing an advisory bulletin to assist farmers in their recovery efforts.

DAERA has been working in partnership with the Department of Finance’s Land & Property Services (LPS) to ensure mapping information is available to support area-based schemes. This mapping information is derived from aerial imagery captured by LPS. DAERA and LPS will use this imagery to ensure that up-to-date information is available as part of its response to deal with the aftermath of the floods.

This will assist DAERA in responding to force majeure claims. In time, the information will also make an important contribution to the speed and accuracy of payments later in the year.

The Department has been lobbying DEFRA to seek permission from the EU to allow it to raise the level of advanced CAP payment made in October from 50% to 70%. It remains committed to making advance payments from 16 October to as many farmers as possible who have verified claims.