BEEP-S

Farmers who have not already applied to the new BEEP-S scheme need to do so before 25 April 2022. Applications must be completed through the Department of Agriculture’s online facility either by the farmer themselves or an agent acting on their behalf.

Even if you joined BEEP-S last year, you still need to make another new application in 2022.

The payment rate is €90/cow for the first 10 cows and €80/cow for the next 90, cost pending the completion of a number of simple actions.

Calves born between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022 are eligible for payment. Weight recording is mandatory, and a cow calf pair will not receive payment on other actions if weighing is not completed.

For farmers that are thinking of selling in July/August it’s important to weigh both the cow and calf on the same day before the calf is weaned.

It’s very important that scales are registered beforehand on the ICBF website. Check online via your herdplus account before you weigh any animals.

If scales are not registered, the weighing will not count for payment. Farmers will need to keep the records of meal purchases to prove that meal was purchased for four weeks pre weaning and two weeks post weaning.

Records also need to be kept of the pneumonia vaccination purchase for payment under this measure.

Dairy Beef Weighing scheme

The closing date for applications to the Dairy Beef Calf Programme is also next Monday, 25 April.

Like BEEP-S, this is a no brainer to join and every farmer rearing dairy beef calves should be in it. All you really have to do to join is ensure that eligible calves are weighed once to qualify for a payment of €20/calf up to a maximum of 40 calves, which means a maximum payment of €800 as part of the programme.

You must weigh a minimum of five eligible calves and submit the weights to the ICBF. All weights should be submitted within seven days of weighing and before 1 November 2022.

Only scales registered can be used and they can be rented, owned or borrowed from a third party.

Eligible calves are those born after 1 January 2022 and are a male dairy bred calf of a dairy dam, or a male or female beef bred calf from a dairy bred dam.

These calves must have been in your herd for at least 10 days before weighing. Calves must be at least 12 weeks old at the time of weighing.

Grass Supplies

Warmer temperatures and better grass growth over the last week has seen a lot more cattle turned out. Silage fields with fertiliser applied in the last two to three weeks are also starting to move, which is a great start in a year where fodder will be in short supply.

Try and match your demand for grass with the growth. Weekly growth figures are printed on our Grass+ page very week). If grass is growing at 30kg/DM/Ha/day that means you should have roughly 1,500kg of liveweight/Ha on the field or about 600kg/acre to meet the supply.

Well fertilised swards will grow a lot more. Meeting supply with demand will ensure that sward quality is maintained.