TWO livestock farmers in County Tyrone have allegedly been caught applying slurry within the closed spreading period which commenced on October 15.
Farmers caught breaking the law could face heavy fines, reductions in their Single Farm Payments, and in the worst case scenario, repeat offenders face a prison sentence of up to two years.
Although there has been no official confirmation regarding the two County Tyrone farmers, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), which governs the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP), has warned farmers against spreading slurry until February 1, 2010 or face the consequences.
As a futher deterrent DARD has said it also has a special arrangement with NIEA with "a procedure in place for DARD to notify suspected breaches to this competent authority".
Due to excessive wet weather earlier on this year farmers were forced to house cattle earlier than normal, which has resulted in slurry tanks filling up sooner than expected.
The enforced compulsory closed period that farmers cannot spread slurry runs from October 15 until January 31. Dirty water and farmyard manure can still be spread in this period.
Earlier appeals to relax the rules and let farmers spread slurry outside the closed period went unanswered. At that time farmers appealed for NIEA to let them spread slurry into late October to relieve the pressure on storage capacity entering the main housing period, but this was not accepted.
The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (NI) 2006 were introduced on January 1 2007 to improve the use of nutrients on farmland and as a result improve water quality throughout Northern Ireland.

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