Payments worth €4.09m have commenced this week under the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme (NDBWS). The announcement of payments to 8,153 participants was marred by news that the maximum number of calves that a farmer will receive payment upon has been reduced from 50 calves to 31 calves.

The news, which broke in advance of the payment announcement, has received a strong backlash from farm organisations and farmers are calling for Martin Heydon, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to increase the budget allocated so that farmers who completed the action of weighing and submission of weights in good faith would be rewarded for doing so.

The scheme is financed via national exchequer funding, with €4m allocated in Budget 2025. The minister has stated that the reduction in the number of calves eligible for payment has resulted from the scheme being oversubscribed, with 305,000 calves weighed and their weights submitted to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) by 1 November 2025 across 8,381 herds.

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This is similar to the figures recorded when the scheme was last in operation in 2023 with €5.3m paid to 8,402 participants. A further €1.4m in funding would be required to cover all payments in the 2025 scheme.

Commenting on the announcement of payments Minister Heydon said: “The National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme helps to support decision making on farms through better quality data on herd performance and to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of the beef from the dairy herd, and to facilitate the further integration of the dairy and beef sectors by providing support for farmers who are rearing progeny from the dairy herd.”

He added: “Like the National Beef Welfare Scheme and the National Sheep Welfare Scheme, the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme was also oversubscribed.

"This is testament to the practical measures within these schemes, where farmers see value in the actions including the weighing of calves. Within the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme, over 305,000 calves were weighed by 01 November across 8,381 herds with 26% of these herds weighing more than 50 calves, illustrating the real value farmers see in having this weighing data for calves.”

The minister added that he has secured funding of €4m under Budget 2026 for the operation of the scheme in 2026. He concluded by stating: “I am acutely aware of the importance of payments under these schemes for the beef sector and the processing of such payments at the earliest possible opportunity remains a key priority for my Department. I am also happy to confirm that I have secured an allocation of a further €4m for this scheme in 2026.”

CSP dairy beef scheme

Meanwhile the Department of Agriculture has this week confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that payments under the 2025 CSP Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme will remain at €20 per eligible calf up to a maximum of 50 calves, with payments commencing in March 2026.

Farmers had hoped for a higher payment following an announcement in Budget 2025 by the then Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, who said that he had secured a doubling in the payment from €20 per eligible calf to €40 per eligible calf for the 2025 scheme year.

The statement at the time read: “Earlier this year, I published a 10-point plan to develop and support our growing dairy beef sector. To further encourage this development, I am doubling the current payment per eligible calf from €20 to €40. As my aim is to encourage greater integration of the dairy and beef sectors, the allocation of this funding will be agreed in consultation with the farm organisations in due course.”

However, it has now been confirmed that the higher payment rate will not be implemented. A total of €4.81m was paid to 7,752 farmers in year one of the scheme earlier this year.