The new National Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS), worth €50/calf for the first 40 calves, is now open, the Department of Agriculture has announced.

The 2024 BWS, which has a total budget of €20m, will remain open until Tuesday 24 September 2024 at 11.59pm.

Suckler farmers with eligible calves born on their farms between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024 can apply for the scheme.

Applications must be lodged online through www.agfood.ie.

The Department said there is no facility for late applications, so payments to participants who have passed all the necessary validation checks can commence in December 2024.

Actions

The scheme, announced last month by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, has two actions - mandatory meal feeding and voluntary vaccination.

Pre- and post-weaning meal feeding will be paid at a rate of €35 per eligible calf, with vaccination of clostridial diseases and/or calf pneumonia paid at a rate of €15 per eligible calf.

These actions are up to a maximum of 40 calves.

Farmers who select and complete both scheme actions will be paid €50 per calf subject to a maximum overall payment of €2,000 at the 40 calf ceiling.

As meal feeding is mandatory, farmers must indicate at application stage if they wish to undertake vaccination.

Farmers will have the option at application stage to select a lower number of animals for the vaccination than meal feeding if they wish.

Participants should retain copies of the receipts for meal feeding and for vaccination where they select this action too.

Where requested by the Department, participants should submit these allow their payment to be processed.

‘Backbone’

Announcing the BWS opening, Minister McConalogue said suckler farming is the backbone of the country’s beef industry.

“This exchequer-funded scheme will promote best practice in calf nutrition and herd health. Both scheme measures will act to optimise the animal’s performance throughout its lifetime.

“The additional flexibility on calf numbers for farmers undertaking the vaccination action will maximise the benefits of the scheme for farmers with different types of suckler production systems.

“Participants in the scheme who opt to select vaccination at application stage can vaccinate for one or both diseases depending on the health status of their herds.

“This scheme is worth €20m to suckler farmers. I would encourage all eligible farmers to check the terms and conditions and submit their applications on time,” he added.

SCEP

Farmers who take part in the BWS as well as the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) will be eligible to earn €200 per cow/calf pair for the first 22 pairs, Minister McConalogue highlighted.

“Coupled with the SCEP, these supports will help safeguard the future of suckler beef production,” he added.

Suckler farmers can simultaneously participate in both this scheme and the five-year Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).

Full terms and conditions of the BWS are available here.