BEEP weighing deadline extended

A new closing date of 8 November has been set for BEEP weighing of cows and calves.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed confirmed the extension, as revealed by the Irish Farmers Journal, on Friday morning.

Animals may now be weighed up to and including on 8 November, and weight data is to be submitted to ICBF by 5pm on 15 November.

Payments

“As I announced last week, payments to the value of €2 million under BEEP have already issued to over 3,000 farmers that have completed the weighing and submission of data in respect of all of their eligible animals.

“My Department will continue to pay participants as individual cases are cleared, and regular pay runs will be in place over the coming weeks to ensure this.

"Farmers who have been contacted by my Department with queries in relation to their applications should also respond at their earliest convenience in order to facilitate payment,” said Minister Creed.

Records

Weight records for 350,000 pairs (dam and calf) have been already returned to ICBF.

The Department will pay €40 per pair of animals to applicants who comply with the requirements.

By extending the closing dates, the Minster said he was confident that many thousands more beef farmers can comply with the conditions in time to qualify for payment by the end of December.

Welcome move

IFA president Joe Healy welcomed the BEEP extension, saying that he had been in direct contact with Minister Creed on the matter this week.

He encourage farmers applying to immediately weigh their cows and calves in order to qualify for the €40 payment.

He said that there is potential for another significant volume of weighing data to be submitted.

Campaign

Healy added that a strong IFA campaign had secured the €20m funding in the BEEP scheme in 2018, followed by another €20m in 2019.

In addition, a further €20m was delivered for the beef sector in Budget 2020 for animal welfare and vaccination.

The IFA president said it was very important that there was a positive response from farmers to such schemes, which provide valuable support for suckler farmers.

'Drop in the ocean'

ICSA president Edmond Phelan also welcomed the extension and encouraged all those who have yet to fulfil tasks under the scheme to do so without delay.

"ICSA called for this extension and we are pleased the minister has agreed to give farmers additional time. Ultimately, we want to see this scheme continued as it improves the quality of the data transmitted to ICBF and is useful for farmers to measure the performance of their animals," said Phelan.

The reality is that an extra €40 is not enough to make a real difference for suckler farmers

However, Mr Phelan said that the money is just a drop in the ocean compared to the challenges facing the sector.

“The reality is that an extra €40 is not enough to make a real difference for suckler farmers. There is scope for additional payments to assist the sector which are compatible with EU objectives and ICSA will continue to push for additional financial supports for suckler farmers.”

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