Information Technology Notes July 2008

The Nitrates Action Programme will be top of the agenda for many farmers this summer. With on farm inspection starting in July, it is in your interest to ensure that your farm meets the requirements of the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) Regulations (NI) 2006 and the Phosphorus (Use in Agriculture) (P) Regulations (NI) 2006.

This directive seeks to prevent the pollution of water caused by the application and storage of inorganic fertiliser and manure on farmland. It is designed both to safeguard drinking water supplies and to prevent wider ecological damage in the form of the eutrophication of freshwater and marine waters generally.

To ensure that your farm is complying with these regulations you should carry out some checks. One of the most difficult checks is to determine the livestock nitrogen loading for your farm. To calculate nitrogen loading for last year you first need to know the average number of animals that were on your farm. It is suggested that you count and classify all the animals you had on your farm on six dates each year (1 Feb, 1 April, 1 June, 1 August, 1 October, and 1 December). It is very difficult to go back through a herd book to work out the animals that were in your herd and their ages, never mind whether they are bulls, cows, heifers and so on.

In response to this problem DARD and CAFRE have developed a report, available to all cattle farmers using APHIS Online (AoL), which will count and classify all the cattle numbers for your herds for both last year and the current year to date. The Nitrates Regulation Animal Count (NRAC) report is now available to use on AoL and will remove the hard work of calculating cattle counts. Once you have logged into your AoL account (free registration available at www.ruralni.gov.uk) you will see a new function called "Nitrates Regulation Animal Count" (NRAC).

This feature generates a report for the number of cattle in your herd classified in accordance with the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) Regulations (NI) 2006. This report can then be used with DARD’s online Nitrogen Loading and Slurry Storage calculators to help you determine if you are complying with the NAP Regulations (NI) 2006.

The NRAC can produce two reports of livestock numbers. The report, “year to date”, will show you the numbers of cattle in your herd for each of the recommended dates up to the date you requested the report.

The report “previous year” will show you the numbers of cattle in your herd for all of the recommended dates for the previous full year, (2007). This will include average numbers for both Nitrogen Loading and Manure Storage calculations.

AoL users registered after 1 May 2008 will have to request each report before viewing. After logging in to AoL, select “Nitrate Regulation Animal Count” from the main AoL menu and choose either “Request Year to Date” or “Request Previous Year”, depending on which report you wish to produce. This request will take approximately 24 hours to complete. After requesting the report you will need to login to your account the following day and choose the option “View Year to Date” or “View Previous Year” to see the report.

Any users who have been using AoL before 1 May 2008, can select “View Previous Year” as their report is already available.

For more information visit our web page on Nitrates and Phosphorus Regulations, or contact Grainne McCarney (028 9442 6930).