Farm bodies want €50m beef scheme money paid out quickly

All of the €50m in the new beef finisher support scheme must be paid out to farmers, with none of the funds left unused and reverting to the Exchequer. That’s a common demand of the main farm organisations.

They have also demanded that the funding be paid on cattle slaughtered before Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed announced the scheme earlier this month. This is to ensure that beef factories do not try to absorb the funding by cutting beef prices and that money is paid out quickly.

The IFA and ICSA want the support to be paid on all finished cattle including steers, heifers, young bulls and beef cows. They want finished animals sold at marts to be eligible if slaughtered within 30 days and for finished animals exported to Northern Ireland, Algeria and Libya to also qualify. They also insist that cattle from factory feedlots cannot qualify, which Minister Creed has assured will be the case.

There the similarities end. The IFA’s livestock chair Brendan Golden wants the scheme to pay a minimum of €100 per finished animal, with no ceiling on the number of animals per farmer.

ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham wants the €50m divided equally among all eligible animals. “The scheme should not operate on the basis of a fixed amount per head, because that would run the risk of unused funds reverting to the Exchequer,” he said. Graham wants a 200-head ceiling per farmer? and wants cattle slaughtered between December last and 10 June to qualify.

The IFA wants a farmer-friendly scheme with payments made before the end of August? to assist the weanling and store cattle trade.

The ICSA wants dairy cows excluded, while the IFA proposes that cows with conformation score P and fat score 1 should not qualify. The ICMSA wants all finished cattle slaughtered in the 12 months up to 10 June to be eligible, including all culled cows and bulls.

“Prices for cull cows took the biggest hit of all last April when McDonald’s and other fast food outlets closed,” ICMSA president Pat McCormack said. He wants an 80-head ceiling per farmer and the money to be paid out as soon as posible.

Macra wants young farmers prioritised, including young bull beef finishers.

“Bull beef finishers have seen quotes drop harder over the past two years. This is a vital section of the trade which must be protected,” Macra president Thomas Duffy said. He warned that the scheme cannot require any reduction in herds and must include farmers rearing dairy stock to beef.