Current information on volunteer-related support for cattle, goats and sheep

The new direct payment system plans to introduce four types of coupled support for farm animals from 2015 – for dairy cows, dairy goats, fattening cattle and slaughtered sheep.

The Ministry of Agriculture draws the attention of farmers to the condition that farmers will be able to receive all these types of support only for those animals for which identification and registration requirements have been met. Namely, animals must be marked with ear tags, and in the event of their loss or if the marking has become illegible, an order for ear tags must be made within seven days at the Agricultural Data Centre (LDC). After the birth of animals or when animals are brought to the farm from a third country, they must be marked within 20 days (sheep – within 30 days). In turn, in the event of the movement of animals, farmers must submit a movement declaration to the LDC within seven days.

Coupled support for dairy cows is intended for farms that monitor the herd and that (in the period from October 1 to September 30) have sold at least 25 tonnes of milk, granting support for a cow whose milk yield during the relevant monitoring period has been at least 5,500 kg or for an organically kept cow at least 4,500 kg.

Coupled support for dairy goats is intended for farms that will have at least five dairy goats on 15 May of the current year and, when granted for a dairy goat, if it is a dairy breed or a cross with a dairy breed, or is a mixed-use breed, and if it has been on the farm for at least six consecutive months.

Coupled support is provided for fattening cattle on farms if they are beef breeds or heifers obtained by crossing with a beef breed, or any bull or steer that has reached the age of at least 16 months on the relevant farm and has been kept there for at least six months.

Coupled support for sheep will be available to farmers if their herd has at least 10 ewes as of May 15 of the current year, and it will be granted for a sheep slaughtered or exported outside Latvia, if it was a meat breed or obtained by crossing with a meat breed, was older than three months and younger than 12 months before slaughter, and was kept on the farm for at least three months.

The farmer must ensure compliance with the identification and registration requirements for all animals for which an application for support has been submitted throughout the calendar year., or during the monitoring period from 30 September of the previous year to 1 October of the current year for dairy cows. Support will not be granted for animals for which violations of the identification and registration rules are detected.

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The aforementioned support schemes will be implemented after receiving the EC's opinion.