Farming Grants for EID Tag Readers, weigh scales and water pumps

12 February 2019  |  Admin

We are pleased to see that in 2019 the grants available to help farmers adopt new technology to become more efficient, improve animal welfare and protect our countryside have increased.   The grant budget has gone up from £23.5 million to £30 million in 2019. Farmers, including livestock, dairy, arable and horticultural sectors can apply for a grant with a minimum of £3,000 to a maximum of £12,000.

There are a number of different grants, depending on where you live and what you are hoping to invest in.  

If you are interested in:

  • Water pumps to protect your watercourses and feed your animals from a trough with pumped water (either solar water pumps or battery powered water pumps)
  • EID tag readers, such as Gallagher's HR5 EID Tag Smart Reader and Data Collector
  • Livestock Weigh Scales and Data Collectors, such as Gallagher's TWR-5 Scale

you may be able to get up to 40% off your purchase funded.

 

Grants to investigate include:

England:  Countryside Productivity Small Grant Scheme and the LEADER funding 

Scotland:  Rural Development: Small Farms Grant Scheme and New Entrants Capital Grant Scheme available between 2015 and 2020

Wales: A Farm Business Grant is available between £ 3.000 and £ 12.000 (1 application per business).

Livestock Water Pump Background

There is an increasing requirement for land owners and managers to keep livestock away from watercourses. The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) has been establishing a framework for the protection of inland waters, transitional waters (estuaries), coastal waters and groundwater. This is covered in the UK by The Water Environment Regulations 2003 for England and Wales; the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and The Water Environment Regulations 2003 for Northern Ireland. Diffuse water pollution from agriculture accounts for 61% of nitrogen entering rivers, up to 40% of phosphorus and 75% of sediment. Fencing off watercourses protects from river bank erosion and relieves poaching so contributes greatly to cleaner water and promotes growth of healthy native flora and fauna. We can all agree that this is great for our environment, but for land owners who rely on watercourses to water their livestock, it can be very problematic. Hotline's battery and solar water pumps have been developed in response to this problem. We have been working with livestock farmers, Natural England and the Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative (CSF) to provide an easy, reliable and self sufficient way of providing water to livestock when watercourses are fenced off. 

 

Useful Links

http://www.wfduk.org/

http://academy.fwi.co.uk/Courses/Arable/Water-Protection

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/3242/introduction/made

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