Trying to calculate Livestock Units for DAS scheme.

HillFarmer

Hi All,

Does anyone know how many Livestock units a calve is worth under the DAS Scheme. In terms from department website it says

all cattle under 2 years is worth 0.6 and

cattle over 2 years is worth 1 as below.

Then I found on a 2006 teagasc article that a calf under 6 month is worth 0.2.

Does anyone know for sure?

HillFarmer

This is what I got from the Department website under the DAS terms and conditions

Type of animal Livestock Unit value
Female or male cattle over 2 years old 1.0 livestock unit each
Female or male cattle 2 years old or under 0.6 livestock unit each
Female or male sheep 0.15 livestock unit each
Female or male horses 1.0 livestock unit each
Female or male donkeys 1.0 livestock unit each
Female or male goats 0.15 livestock unit each
Female or male deer 0.3 livestock unit each

Can I presume a calf is 0.6 livestock unit from above?

Marooned75

Yes

HillFarmer

Marooned75 wrote: »

Yes

thats what i am thinking but teagasc have the following on their website

Cattle
Dairy cows1.0Suckling cows0.9Heifers-in-calf0.7Calves under 6 mths.0.2Calves 6-12 months0.4Cattle 1-2 years0.7Cattle over 2 years1.0Stock bulls

Paddysniper

HillFarmer wrote: »

thats what i am thinking but teagasc have the following on their website

Cattle
Dairy cows1.0Suckling cows0.9Heifers-in-calf0.7Calves under 6 mths.0.2Calves 6-12 months0.4Cattle 1-2 years0.7Cattle over 2 years1.0Stock bulls

Hello,
I can assure you that a calf up to two years is .6 of a unit.
Am I right in assuming that pre 2012 a calf was worth .2?

20silkcut

A calf does not remain a calf for very long it would be a farce if they had to account for each growth stage with a corresponding sliding scale of livestock units.
Big difference between a 6 month old calf and a suck. Yet only half a calendar year.
I think a livestock unit should be any animal over 1 year by right.

Paddysniper

20silkcut wrote: »

A calf does not remain a calf for very long it would be a farce if they had to account for each growth stage with a corresponding sliding scale of livestock units.
Big difference between a 6 month old calf and a suck. Yet only half a calendar year.
I think a livestock unit should be any animal over 1 year by right.

I suppose it all depends on how close to the minimum stocking rate a person might be.
If a farm is well stocked then there'd be little worries.
I started farming for myself last year and I'm curious to find out what the stocking rate values were pre 2012. If anyone knows if and when "calves" were .2 and was it in 2012 that it changed to an animal up to 2 years was .6.

freedominacup

A yearling heifer and the calf following her were always regarded as 1 livestock unit. They'd be slightly less in early season and slightly more at the end of the grazing season but 1 one average over the year.

Milton09

I think I'm right in saying that the units used for DAS calculations and REPS calculations were different, maybe the Teagasc numbers were for REPS/Organic scheme.

HillFarmer

Milton09 wrote: »

I think I'm right in saying that the units used for DAS calculations and REPS calculations were different, maybe the Teagasc numbers were for REPS/Organic scheme.

Yes you are. Your spot on.

I rang the department about this, and for the DAS its always .6 for animal up to 2 years of age.

Paddysniper

HillFarmer wrote: »

Yes you are. Your spot on.

I rang the department about this, and for the DAS its always .6 for animal up to 2 years of age.

I don't think there's anyone disputing that fact. But I'm still wondering how it used to be. A calf say under 6 months was it .2 or was there any stocking rate value for a calf?
We were told last year that a calfs value was .2 and that there was uncertainty of stocking rates right up until the deadline for the das scheme and because of this we held off in buying stock until this year

20silkcut

Paddysniper wrote: »

I don't think there's anyone disputing that fact. But I'm still wondering how it used to be. A calf say under 6 months was it .2 or was there any stocking rate value for a calf?
We were told last year that a calfs value was .2 and that there was uncertainty of stocking rates right up until the deadline for the das scheme and because of this we held off in buying stock until this year

I had 20 calves last year on 60 forage acres and qualified for DAS.