4 Provisions with respect to cattle
1 The number of breeding cows for which a compensatory allowance may be paid to a person who has made a valid application for compensatory allowances for breeding cows in respect of any given Scheme year shall be the least of—
(a) the number of such animals included in that application;
(b) the number of such animals which were—
(i) owned, or
(ii) leased under a formal leasing arrangement,
by him throughout the retention period for the animals concerned applicable to that Scheme year;
(c) the number of such animals which, in the opinion of the Department, is reasonable, having regard to the number of calves produced by the regular breeding herd of which they form part in the 12 months preceding the date of lodgement of that application in accordance with paragraph (1) of regulation 8 or, in the case of a regular breeding herd newly established or re-established in that Scheme year, in such shorter period as the Department may determine; or
(d) the number of breeding cows which, when added to the number of ewes which are the subject of an application for compensatory allowances made by that person in respect of that Scheme year, is equivalent to 1.4 livestock units per hectare of eligible land which was included in an area aid application made under Article 6 of Council Regulation 3508/92 in the calender year preceding that Scheme year, and was determined by the Department to be eligible forage area for the purposes of that Regulation or is relevant afforested land.
2 A compensatory allowance shall not be paid for any breeding cow the use of which for breeding would not, in the opinion of the Department, be in accordance with sound husbandry practice.
3 Where in any Scheme year an applicant uses unsuitable supplementary feeding methods the Department may reduce or withhold the compensatory allowance for breeding cows otherwise payable to him in respect of that Scheme year in accordance with paragraph (4).
4 Where the applicant was not penalised under this regulation for using unsuitable supplementary feeding methods in the preceding Scheme year the compensatory allowance for breeding cows otherwise payable to him may be reduced by 10%; where the applicant was penalised under this regulation for using unsuitable supplementary feeding methods in the preceding Scheme year but not in the Scheme year preceding that one the compensatory allowance for breeding cows otherwise payable to him may be reduced by 20%; and where the applicant has been penalised under this regulation for using unsuitable supplementary feeding methods in each of the two preceding Scheme years the compensatory allowance for breeding cows otherwise payable to him may be withheld.
5 Where, in the opinion of the Department, an appreciable quantity of milk has been produced by a regular breeding herd in the period of 12 months immediately preceding the date an applicant lodges his claim for a compensatory allowance in respect of a given Scheme year for any breeding cows in that herd and that milk has been sold or used for the manufacture of milk products for sale, a compensatory allowance shall be payable in respect of that Scheme year for the number of breeding cows comprised in the herd on that date, reduced by such number as appears to the Department to be the number of breeding cows in the herd required to produce that quantity of milk in that period of 12 months.