Cattle Herd Number

smiley girl

Hi folks,

Can anyone here tell me what's the minimum number of cows you can keep to hold on to your herd number? I can't find that information anywhere.

Thanks in advance

blue5000

I think if you have 1 your *ss is covered, have you phoned the local dvo? If you are in a disadvantaged area you need a minimum of 0.15 livestock units per hectare to get the disadvantaged area payment. eg. If you have 20 ha you need 3 cows min for the year, hope this helps.

Jed_Bartlet

blue5000 wrote: »

I think if you have 1 your *ss is covered, have you phoned the local dvo? If you are in a disadvantaged area you need a minimum of 0.15 livestock units per hectare to get the disadvantaged area payment. eg. If you have 20 ha you need 3 cows min for the year, hope this helps.

blue5000 is spot on, all you need is one animal to hold on to a herd number but this is affected by claiming for schemes like Disadvantaged Area Aid and some REPS contracts.

You won't ever actually lose a herd number if you don't have stock, the most a DVO can do is make it dormant for testing purposes only. You'd still be able to claim Single Farm Payment but the herd number going dormant for testing may affect other schemes.

smiley girl

Thanks guys, that's really helpful. I was asked to find this information out, the man in question is nearing pension age and wants to keep only a few cows.