Around 26% of milk supplying herds are yet to confirm their nitrogen excretion rate band for 2026.

Therefore, those herds have been defaulted to the highest excretion rate of 106kg organic nitrogen (N) per cow.

Last Friday (May 15) was the deadline for farmers to declare their excretion band without being defaulted to the highest rate (that date was also the deadline to apply for the nitrates derogation for 2026).

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine confirmed to Agriland that a total of 11,992 nitrogen excretion rate bands or ‘dairy bands’ for 2026 have been declared to date on the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) portal.

Farmers declare their band based on the kilogramme of milk yield per cow per year of the herd.

The breakdown of the number of herds declared in each band is provided below:

These figures do not include a small number of manual declarations - made when an applicant is awaiting a new herd number or a farm partnership number is yet to be assigned - that are being processed by the department.

The department estimates that, to date 74% of dairy herds supplying milk have declared their excretion rate band for 2026, meaning 26% have not yet done so.

Dairy cows in herds that have not declared their nitrogen excretion rate band will be assigned, by default, to the highest excretion rate band of 106kg N/cow/year.

Nitrogen excretion rate declarations for 2026 will be accepted until December 31, 2026; however, for planning and management purposes, defaulted farmers are encouraged by the department to confirm their excretion rate band as soon as possible.

Nitrates derogation

Last Friday was also the deadline for farmers to apply for the nitrates derogation.

Over 300 less farmers applied for a nitrates derogation this year compared to the number that applied in 2025.

The department confirmed to Agriland that 6,797 farmers applied for a nitrates derogation by the closing date of last Friday.

This compares to a figure of 7,135 applications that were received for the derogation in 2025.

This equates to a decrease in applications of 338.

By applying for a nitrates derogation, a herd owner is applying for permission to apply livestock manure nitrogen at a level in excess of 170kg of nitrogen per hectare (N/ha).

The derogation allows 220kg N/ha to be applied in the vast majority of the country.

The department has confirmed to Agriland the number of derogation applications in each county.

Co. Cork saw the most applications, with 1,981, the only county with over 1,000 derogation applications.

This was followed by Co. Tipperary, with 859 applications, and Co. Kilkenny, with 524 applications.

The number of applications per county is below (if a county has less than five applications, the figure is not disclosed):

The department said the above figures, as with the excretion band figures, do not include a small number of manual applications.

These application figures are also subject to change as the process of validating applications takes place.