Sheep advice, Ireland: SIS deadline for scanning ewes approaches

Scanning ewes will be high on the to-do list for mid-season lambing flocks as the new year approaches. It is also important that farmers who chose scanning as a category B action in year one of the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) have completed this action between February 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023. With just days until this deadline approaches, many farmers may have already completed their scanning in year one, but are now looking to year two of the scheme, which begins on January 1, 2024 to December 31. Last week in the Dáil (Thursday, December 14), Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said: “Officials in my department became aware of an issue affecting hill flock participants, who normally scan in January each year, that selected the scanning action for the scheme. “Following consultation with the farm organisations, my department wrote to all affected participants in February 2023, affording them the opportunity to deselect scanning, and ...