Sheep sector still needs headage support

In 1998 there were 1,449,824 breeding ewes in Northern Ireland (NI), and since then there has been a significant decline with 946,054 being recorded in 2020, a drop of 34.75 percent.

This trend coupled with poor profitability performance at farm level, more pressure on generational renewal, increased vulnerability, isolation, and recoupling, as well as challenges with additional pressures such as rising input costs.

In general, farms in NI obtain a large proportion of their net income from direct payments. This can exceed 100 percent, particularly in years of low market prices. Primary breeding cattle and sheep farms are very dependent on direct payments and, on average, do not generate a positive farm business income. Small farms are more dependent on direct payments than larger farms on average.

In 2020, there were 25,900 farms in NI predominantly made up of Less Favoured Area (LFA) cattle and sheep (15,100), lowland cattle and sheep (5,200). Resilience in agriculture is important as the sector is particularly prone to uncertainty, which can arise from issues such as fluctuating input costs and farm gate prices, extreme weather events, animal diseases and changes in international trading patterns.

Cattle and sheep farm business, therefore, needs to be resilient to persist over the long term in the face of unpredictability and change. However there seems to be conflicting information from DAERA. They have stated on page 35 of their Future Agriculture Policy Proposals for NI consultation document that, “DAERA has no proposals to introduce a breeding ewe headage payment at this stage. I think this goes in the face of primary sheep producers.

However, on page 29 of the consultation paper, DAERA has stated that “the Department is seeking to explore how a future support regime could, in particular, support suckler cow producers (and potentially breeding ewe producers if a need is identified)”, passing the buck to farm organisations to prove the need with information that DAERA already know and have.

On page 30 of the DAERA consultation paper it reads, “the beef and sheep sector is a viable but vulnerable sector”, but yet no proposal for specific headage support to sheep? So perhaps there is now a window of opportunity for the sheep sector.

Both the beef and sheep sectors in NI make a major contribution to the NI economy, particularly in rural areas and producers provide a range of public goods to the environment, biodiversity, prevention of fires, landscape preservation and employment. It was estimated that in 2019 the gross turnover of the NI beef and sheep meat processing sector was just over £1.39 billion. Without direct payments beef and sheep farming would be unprofitable and this extends over a long period time. Whilst other sectors have experienced cyclical challenges, most notably dairying, the overall recent performance has been much more positive.

There is no denying that the sheep sector has seen an increase in farm gate price in the past several months, however, in the benefit of primary sheep producers this has be minimal. For example, hill or upland farmers that would have sold the majority of their lambs as stores in the autumn only really saw an increase of about £8-10 per head increase. For a few years of uncertainty prior to this, I think it was only deserving that primary sheep producers saw a small increase, but will it be sustained? Time will tell, however, if we want our upland and hill sheep producers to remain sustainable, I don’t think it’s a good idea to remove support from them as this will make them more vulnerable.

Another important aspect that is missing from the DAERA consultation is that there is no reference to the Area of Natural Constraint’s (ANC). The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) would like to see the ANC scheme reinstated. Before this consultation was put together by DAERA the UFU along with the Livestock and Meat Commission and the Northern Ireland Meat Exporters Association, provided DAERA with a proposed future framework that included support for sucklers, dairy bred beef calves, breeding ewes and a replacement for the ANC scheme.

If we go forward without targeted sheep support, it will leave primary sheep producers at a further disadvantage compared to their counter parts in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) where they have a range of additional schemes. This includes the sheep welfare scheme and a disadvantage area scheme which is basically Ireland’s ANC scheme.

The ROI sheep welfare scheme is a great example of a scheme that can target support to sheep producers to help raise standards including improved lameness control, mineral supplementation for ewe’s post mating and lambs post weaning, scanning pregnant ewes, parasite control and flystrike.

The next few weeks are going to be critical for the future of farming in NI with this consultation on future agriculture policy support and the ongoing discussions in regard to the climate change bills that are progressing through the NI Assembly. Let’s hope beef and sheep producers are not the sacrificial lamb at the end.