Commonage Framework Plans problems

crystalmac

Hi
First time post, I have a share in a commonage, the hill consists of approx 550 acres, there is nine shareholders in the commonage of different share sizes, five do not used the commonage, only one of the nine shareholders put cattle on the hill (that being farmer 3), only 4 of the shareholders with sheep, with the following numbers set under Commonage Framework Plans:

Myself 120 sheep- 180 acres of commonage and 47 acres of lowland at present (16 cows and cattle 14), I have now also rented another farm with 20 acres + 80 acres of commonage

Farmer one
Farmer one 34 sheep – 80 acres of commonage and 35 acres of lowland (cattle 18)

Farmer two
Farmer two 45 sheep – 80 acres of commonage and 24 acres of lowland (cattle 6) (took 3 years to get sheep to the hill after starting farming) this guy started farming in 2004 by buying this farm, he received a quota of 45 sheep and still has the same 80 acres share in the commonage as farmer 3 who has 525 ewes

Farmer three
Farmer three 525 sheep – 80 acres of commonage. And 36 acres of lowland and rent 10 acres of lowland for lambing (cattle 18 cows and another 7-8 cattle or more) {had over 750 ewes before Commonage Framework Plans or more)

I started farming in 1998 and the first year I had
1998 - 120 ewes
1999 - 156 ewes
2000 - 171 ewes

The hill I am in was destocked by 30% under the Commonage Framework Plans (CFPs) in 2001 approx, I was only farming 2-3 years as ye can see then, as the largest shareholder I am wondering is their anyway to increase the numbers I have in the commonage I feel I am badly treated by the number of sheep I can keep as it was history based and I did not get time to build up my flock, my other neighbour farmers with rights too the hill also feel that they are mistreated while farmer 3 have over 525 ewes in commonage and is still receiving the financial rewards even that he eat the hill bare every year and stocked it too the maximum, farmer two had 250 ewes up till 1996, but cut down as farmer 3 pushed him out simply by feeding his sheep nuts in the hill every day during the winter in separate pens, it took a few hours to separate the sheep of everyone, but in the end it paid farmer 3 as farmer 2 has to take his sheep home for a few months every winter and in the end reduced his numbers as it was too costly, farmer 2 only now only has 45 sheep at most

Is their any way to increase the ewe number as I feel I have a right and acres in the commonage, but also depend on farming so much now, I am 31 years old and really crazy about farming, I did try the department of agriculture a few years ago and got now where with this issue, I feel very mad that farmer 3 that stocked the hill to the maximum and beyond still gets rewarded still for doing so in a big way with SPS and also the new payments of €10 per ewe again all over??, while the rest of us look on.

Can I do anything to try to make a living while not being eat out of this commonage, the other farmers 1 and 2 also feel the same, but will not speak up, their afraid of farmer 3 who can be aggressive and like to walk all over every body??, I must say at the same time we all pull and get on all of us which is great to be fair, but at the same time we all got to live

We have much the same situation on another local commonage that my dad is in farmer’s 3 brother has over 900 sheep and only 56 acres of commonage in this hill

stocking rate on commonage
myself stocking rate of 1ewe to 1.5 acres at present and will become 1 ewe to 2.16 acres with this new land i rented for 10 years with commonage

Farmer twoit took years to put a few sheep on the hill after the Commonage Framework Plans, but still only received a stocking rate of 1 ewe to 1.77 acres

farmer 3 stocking rate of 1 ewe to 0.015 acres


Any one get to increase numbers after the Commonage Framework Plans??
Any idea’s on how to go forward with this issue??
Is their some way to review the Commonage Framework Plans??

Ford4000

To the best of my knowledge Commonages are set for review again shortly, a lot of effort is being made this year to make farmers produce there folios as many just decided at a point they had a share/right when somebody died or similar, they went ahead and submitted it on an sps application.
Commonage framework plans are listing commonages as natura land is most instances, talk to your local npws ranger and see what they say,