Reducing numbers in Sheep Improvement Scheme

There were in excess of 97,000 fewer breeding ewes on farms on 31 December 2024 compared with 12 months earlier.

The reduction in numbers has possibly led to some farmers needing to reduce their reference number under the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS).

The SIS requires participants to maintain their reference number across the full calendar year.

Hoggets can suffice to replace ewe numbers for the purpose of maintaining the reference number, but these are only taken as eligible once they turn 12 months of age.

Furthermore, an applicant’s reference number of sheep must be present to complete the chosen actions.

Example

For example – if we take a flock with a reference number of 80 sheep and possess 65 ewes and 20 yearling hoggets at scanning, the reference number is maintained, but to satisfy the action of pregnancy scanning, the 65 ewes and at least 15 ewe hoggets would need to have been scanned.

If the number of eligible sheep on the farm falls below the scheme reference number, then the advice is to contact the Department of Agriculture in writing to notify them of the reduction in numbers.

Notifications can be sent via email to sheepscheme@agriculture.gov.ie or in hardcopy form to Sheep Improvement Scheme, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Government Buildings, Old Abbeyleix Road, Portlaoise, Co Laois, R32 RPA6.

If an applicant fails to notify the Department and a deficit is identified in the course of a desk or field inspection, then a penalty of twice the deficit number identified may be imposed.

For example, if we take our 80 ewe flock above and only 65 eligible females are present at inspection, then the penalty imposed will be the payment on 30 head – which is 15 head deficiency in the reference number multiplied by two.

Reference number check

If you do not know your reference number, it can be found online by logging on to your agfood.ie account, clicking on to ‘Ag Schemes – Sheep Improvement Scheme’.

This will present a pop-up box with contact details for the Department.

When you close this, there will be an applications list detailing your application.

There are three dots to the right of this information and clicking on this will trigger another pop-up giving the option to view your application, which states your reference number.

It is important to be mindful of how any changes made to the reference number could have an impact on the payable number of sheep in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme.

Under this scheme, sheep do not need to be present on the farm every day during the year, but actions must be carried out on the number of sheep present.