Under the Nitrates regulations (SI 113 of 2022 as amended) under Article 17 (18) it states
‘In the case of livestock holdings with grassland stocking rates of 170 kg nitrogen per hectare from livestock manure or above prior to export of livestock manure, bovine livestock shall not be permitted to drink directly from watercourses identified on the modern 1:5,000 scale OSi mapping or better. Where bovine livestock have direct access to watercourses on the holding, a fence shall be placed at least 1.5m from the top of the riverbank or water’s edge (as the case may be). It will be permissible to move livestock across a watercourse to an isolated land parcel where necessary, provided that both sides of the watercourse are fenced.’
It’s important to note that this requirement is based on grassland stocking rate prior to the export of organic manures. The grassland stocking rate is the organic N produced by grazing livestock on the grassland area of the holding, prior to exports of organic manures, and is based on the previous year’s stocking rate.
In addition, while there is no regulatory requirement for fencing below 170 kg N/ha grassland stocking rate, grant aid is available under Agri-environment schemes and has been for number of years.
So whilst it is true that there is no mandatory requirement to fence waterways for holdings with a grassland stocking rate below 170 kgs/N/ha, the regulations do place obligations to protect water and water quality on all farmers, for example, Article 17 of S.I. 113/2022 deals with distances from waterways in relation to both chemical and organic fertilisers.
