The 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme opened for applications on Thursday 8 August and will remain open for applications until Tuesday 24 September.

The scheme has two elements - a mandatory meal-feeding action and a voluntary vaccination action.

The mandatory meal-feeding action offers payment of €35 per eligible calf up to a maximum of 40 calves (maximum payment of €1,400), while the voluntary vaccination action offers payment of €15 up to a maximum of 40 calves (maximum payment of €600 per herd).

The application process must be completed online via a farmer’s own agfood.ie account or by an approved agent acting on their behalf.

It is a relatively straightforward process, but there are some key points that also need to be considered with regards selecting the number of animals on which actions will be carried out on.

Step-by-step guide

  • Once logged on to agfood.ie scroll down to the heading ‘Beef Welfare Scheme 2024’.
  • On the next page, click on ‘select scheme to enter’ in the top left corner of the page followed by ‘Beef Welfare Scheme 2024’.
  • This will present the herd details and the option to generate a new application. Once the new application option is selected, you will be presented with the application page.

  • There are a number of important elements on this page:

    • - The number of eligible calves is the maximum number of calves on which payment can be claimed. It is a measure of the number of eligible calves born in the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.

    - The first required piece of information is the number of calves which you wish to claim payment for under the meal-feeding action. This can be lower than the eligible number of calves if for any reason calves have been moved of the farm without satisfying scheme requirements, ie feeding meal for a period of at least four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks post-weaning.

    - The second section for entering the number of calves for a payment claim refers to the voluntary action of vaccination. This can be lower than the number of eligible number of calves and also the number of calves entered for meal feeding, but cannot exceed the number of calves entered for the meal-feeding action. It allows farmers to target the number of calves which will be present for vaccination for pneumonia or clostridial disease.

    - The final step of the application process is to confirm adherence with the terms and conditions, followed by clicking the submit button. If the submit button is not pressed, then the application will remain in draft stage and will not be submitted.

    Penalty schedule

    Where no meal feeding is undertaken or not undertaken to the required levels or documentation provided when requested, then there will be no payment for action one.

    A 50% penalty will also apply to action two (vaccination) where applicable. If action two is not selected, then no payment will issue.

    If action two is selected at application stage but not completed to the required levels or documentation submitted when required, then there will be no payment for action two, plus a 50% penalty will be applied to any payment forthcoming under action one.

    For this reason, it is important to take care when applying under action two on the correct number of animals.