While the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has said that the main compensation provision of the bovine TB programme is the On-Farm Market Valuation Scheme, Cavan-Monaghan Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith has called on the DAFM to increase compensation levels for herds impacted by disease under the TB Eradication Scheme.
In his view, this will reflect the actual market value of cattle as current compensation levels are very low, and as a result, farmers are suffering “major financial losses”.
The Minister did acknowledge that under the On-Farm Market Valuation Scheme a ceiling of €3,000 applies to payment in respect of any individual bovine animal – with an exception in respect of either one stock bull per breakdown episode where a ceiling of €4,000 applies; or one pedigree stock bull in the same breakdown episode where a ceiling of €5,000 applies.
As such, he urged herd owners in possession of very valuable animals to consider mitigating their risks by taking out insurance. This, he said, would enable them “to recover the full market value of such animals in the event of an outbreak of TB in their herd. These ceilings enable payment of market value compensation for the vast majority of animals within the scope of available exchequer and farmer levy funding.”