Almost 8,000 applications have been lodged for the new National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS).

The closing date for applications is 11.59pm on Tuesday 12 September.

Farmers can apply via their Department of Agriculture agfood account on www.agfood.ie.

Just over 2,000 applications remain in draft format on the agfood system and are yet to be submitted.

IBR testing and lower than expected payment rates are reasons being given by farmers who are not signing up to the scheme. However, it's expected that there will be a flush of applications in the next few days.

Critical

Farm organisations have been extremely critical of the new scheme, arguing that IBR testing should not have been included as part of the scheme.

Irish Farmers Association national livestock chair Brendan Golden said: “This scheme has been badly designed, grossly underfunded and exposes suckler farmers to unacceptable risks and costs.

"The IFA spelled out in detail the implications of this for suckler farmers directly to the Minister for Agriculture and his senior officials and called for the measure to be replaced with a vaccination component which would be of benefit to both suckler farmers and the purchasers of weanlings.

"In addition to the interference with the marketing of weanlings from farms in this scheme, the measure is effectively a transfer of supports committed by the Minister to suckler farmers in last year’s budget to service providers such as vets and testing laboratories.

"All the concerns highlighted by the IFA are now coming to the fore, as farmers incur exorbitant charges from vets for IBR testing and receive positive test results for their animals, with no support structure to manage the disease and serious marketing concerns for their weanlings as a result.”

Confusion

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) animal health and welfare chair Hugh Farrell said: “Confusion reigns supreme in relation to a strategy for IBR.”

Farrell was commenting on the lack of clarity around what are the implications of a positive IBR test result.

“We have been discussing the need for a national programme on the Animal Health Ireland IBR implementation group for some time now. However, the new suckler scheme does not in our view represent a coherent step forward.

"Farmers have been left in the dark about the implications of a positive test. There is also a concern that money that was promised for the suckler farmer is now being used to fund a programme when we had been expecting that separate funding would be available for an IBR programme on the basis that dairy and suckler farmers would be treated the same. This is not now the case,” Farrell said.

Webinar

An Irish Farmers Journal webinar will take place on Thursday 7 September at 7pm to highlight the key areas of the scheme and answer any questions that farmers may have. Farmers can join the webinar by logging in here.