The new Suckler Cow Scheme in NI will start from April 2025, Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir has confirmed.

In early December, DAERA announced that the new headage payment for sucklers was being pushed back by three months from its original start date of January 2025.

It prompted the Ulster Farmers’ Union to call for a further delay until January 2026 to allow the scheme to better fit with spring-calving patterns.

However, Minister Muir has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that the new scheme is proceeding as planned.

“The Suckler Cow Scheme is going ahead in April,” he said.

The Alliance MLA said the recent agreement on a draft budget by the NI Executive has given his department “security to move forward” with the new scheme.

The draft budget includes an “earmarked allocation” of £332.5m for agricultural support for the 2025-2026 financial year as well as “future years”.

It also includes £12.3m of new funding for a “just transition fund for agriculture” to help meet climate change targets.

“We still have to agree what those initiatives are going to be, but an example could be something like peatland restoration,” Minister Muir said.