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The Irish Farmers Journal understands that the Department of Agriculture is ready to announce a one-week extension to the weighing deadline in the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) scheme.
The original deadline to have weights loaded on the ICBF database was Friday 1 November. It is understood that this deadline will be extended by seven days until Friday 8 November 2019 to allow the remaining weights to be recorded.
Details
The BEEP scheme was launched in January 2019 by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.
The scheme pays farmers €40/calf as long as scheme conditions are met. This includes a weight recorded on cows and calves in the herd before weaning. Over 700,000 weights have been recorded since the scheme was opened in spring 2019.
There were just under 200,000 weights to be recorded as of early last week and the Irish Farmers Journal understands that there are currently in excess of 60,000 weights yet to be recorded as part of the scheme.
Extension
Farm organisations including ICSA president Edmond Phelan had called for an extension during the week.
Payments commenced last week and will continue in the coming weeks as herds are cleared for payment.
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