Department onfarm inspections

jimmytrigs

Hi all
Has anybody here had an unannounced farm inspection from the department and what are they interested in. What happens if your not on your farm when they arrive. Have they the right to walk anywhere they like on your premises without your permission. What about the safety aspects.

dar31

they have to give 24 hrs notice before entering your farm. dont let them tell you other wise

nilhg

jimmytrigs wrote: »

Hi all
Has anybody here had an unannounced farm inspection from the department and what are they interested in. What happens if your not on your farm when they arrive. Have they the right to walk anywhere they like on your premises without your permission. What about the safety aspects.

We had one just before christmas, there was a bit of a blitz on this area almost everybody in a 5 mile radius was done, they looked for all the obvious stuff, tags, stock numbers in agreement with CMMS, medicine records, spray records, feed records and general hygiene around the yard. Our inspector was particularly worried about us having dung tipped out in fields or slurry spread out of season.

Most of the fines I heard of in the area were for untagged calves or applying too high a rate of chemical (or rather for writing it down), some of the merchants around were recommending 5lt/ha stomp on maize, the label rate is 3.5lt/ha max.

Safety didn't arise in our case, I presume if you tell the inspector there is a safety issue about him being there unaccompanied then I presume he has to stay out till you can be with him.

dar31 wrote: »

they have to give 24 hrs notice before entering your farm. dont let them tell you other wise

IIRC, not absolutely true, they have to do the animal welfare inspection unannounced if at all possible.

johngalway

dar31 wrote: »

they have to give 24 hrs notice before entering your farm. dont let them tell you other wise

Haven't had an inspection in a while now *knocks on wood*. Last one I had was a REPS inspection, the notice I got was a phone call from them parked outside the house :eek:

As it happened I wasn't in Presume they went and walked the farm, never heard from them again, never went looking for them neither.

Ford4000

dar31 wrote: »

they have to give 24 hrs notice before entering your farm. dont let them tell you other wise

COMPLETELY INCORRECT, for food,hygiene and animal welfare issues they can come unannounced.
I am 100% sure of this as i was at training today with the department on sps and CC issues.

theroad

Two inspectors turned up unannounced in December, stayed a good 4-5 hours, went over everything. Measured tanks for slurry storage capacity, looked over the parlour, checked all passports, counted stock. Looked for fertilizer records too. Something new this time was records of sprays: what was used, when, where, how much water, what is left, where is it stored. That is sent to Portlaoise for cross-checking. They said they also check with the co-op to see what I bought.

They said animal welfare & tags can be done unannounced. Everything else is notifiable, but as they said at the time, while we're here we may as well do the lot.

My sense from them was that they form a view within 10 minutes as to whether the farmer is a messer or not, and act accordingly. It helps that I use Herdmaster for the herd and vet register - if it's on a computer, it must be right!

Second such inspection in two years. They swear people are picked by a computer. Hmm. Heard nothing since, and I'm not asking.