The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that 23,720 suckler farmers applied to the National Beef Welfare Scheme by the closing date of 23.59hrs on 24 September.

The application figure represents an increase of over 7,300 more farmers compared to the 2023 scheme.

The 2023 scheme was subject to controversy with some critical of the inclusion of optional blood testing for IBR.

Reports at the time indicated that this encouraged some farmers away from applying despite the action being optional.

There appeared to be a much wider acceptance of the optional actions included in the 2024 scheme – namely vaccination for clostridial diseases and/or pneumonia.

There was also a higher possible payment to be gained for herds with in excess of 20 eligible calves with a maximum payment this year of €2,000 (€1,400 for meal feeding and €600 for vaccinating 40 calves) compared to a maximum of €1,700 in 2023.

Core action

The scheme continues to be based on the feeding of meal to calves for a period of at least four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks post-weaning.

Farmers had to denote at application stage if they wished to opt for the optional action of vaccination. Payment under the scheme is targeted in December.