Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has published interim bovine nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) statements covering January 1 to August 31, 2026 on its MyAgFood online system, giving cattle farmers an early reading of where they stand against their regulatory limits before the year ends.

"Provision of interim nitrates data is a key tool provided by my department to assist farmers to comply with their regulatory limits," said Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon. "I encourage all cattle farmers to view their interim statements online."

The department warned that a small minority of dairy farmers who have not confirmed their herd's dairy cow band for 2026 have been defaulted to the highest band of 106kg of nitrogen per cow. As previously communicated, those farmers should confirm the correct band if the top band is not appropriate — most easily through the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) website. Adjustments have been applied to the statements of dairy farmers who opted for recognition of managing crude protein in their cows' concentrate feed.

DAFM said it is developing ways to make real-time nitrates figures available on MyAgFood shortly. Future statements and projections on the system will include ovine as well as bovine nitrates data, and farmers will be told when those figures are ready.

Farmers at the National Ploughing Championships could also collect their interim statement from department officials at the DAFM stand (Block 3, Row 7, Stand 134). Kathleen O'Sullivan reported for Agriland.

Source: Agriland