Unveiled: the proposed actions in the 2025 Beef Welfare Scheme

Meal feeding of calves pre- and post-weaning is expected to remain the main element of the 2025 National Beef Welfare Scheme, with the optional action of vaccination for clostridial disease/pneumonia also remaining part of the proposed programme.

Payment terms are planned to remain the same as in 2024, with €35 allocated to meal feeding and €15 for completing vaccination protocols.

A third element is being introduced in 2025 to give farmers the opportunity to draw down a €25 higher payment per eligible calf with the potential payment rising from €50 to €75 per head. The Irish Farmers Journal understands that the proposed actions under this measure consist of parasite control measures, including carrying out faecal egg counts in cows, and silage analysis.

Payment limit

The additional details on the proposed actions have come to light following a meeting held on Wednesday between farm organisations and Department of Agriculture officials. IFA national livestock chair Declan Hanrahan says the IFA has put forward a strong case for the payment limit of 40 animals to be removed.

“The arbitrary limit of 40 cows proposed by the Department per farm is not acceptable and must be removed,” Hanrahan said.

“The reality is there are a very limited number of farmers with over 40 suckler cows left in country and these farmers cannot be unfairly penalised in this national exchequer funded scheme, as was the case last year.

“Including all of the cows on these farms will have minimal impact on the overall costings of the proposed scheme and Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, must address this unacceptable penalty on suckler farmers with over 40 cows.”

Practical actions

Hanrahan says the continuation of meal feeding and vaccination actions is practical but cautioned that “the proposal to include parasite control measures through faecal egg counts and silage testing require further consideration both in terms of the cost the proposals will impose on smaller scale farms and options provided”.

Farmers have been seeking clarity on what is included in the scheme so that they are in a position to draw down the maximum funds.

He added: “It is vital the scheme details are finalised and published at the earliest opportunity to avoid the fiasco of last year’s scheme where some farmers had their calves long sold before details of the scheme were announced. These farmers through no fault of their own were effectively ruled out of the scheme.”

Eligible calves

Payments will be based on calves born from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. The level of funding available has been increased from €20m to €28m for 2025 with the proposed payment rate rising from €50 per calf to €75 per calf.

In the 2024 scheme an eligible suckler cow was defined as a cow which belongs to a beef breed or is sired by a beef breed bull and is part of a herd intended for meat production and which rears a calf by suckling.

An eligible calf is one which was born on the farm in the date range from 1 July in the preceding scheme year to 30 June in the current year. It must be bred by an eligible suckler cow and sired by a beef breed. Where the herd has both a milking herd and a beef herd, only calves reared by their mother are eligible calves.