Billy Timmins
Question:216 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of herd numbers there are; if this corresponds to the total number of farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12202/03]
Written Answers. - Bovine Disease Controls.
A herd number is issued by my Department to a keeper of a herd of bovine animals for the purpose of administering disease control programmes. At 31 December 2002 there were 127,711 active herd numbers in the State. Farmers with no bovine animals but applying for area aid support payments are issued with numbers in the same format as the herd number in order to administer the various support schemes. The number of herd numbers issued would not necessarily correlate with the number of farmers.