The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has today (Wednesday, December 8) confirmed that payments under the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S) have commenced.
In total, some €42 million has commenced issuing to over 30,000 participating farmers.
The minister commented: “I am delighted to confirm that payments have now commenced under Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S) and Dairy Beef [Welfare] Scheme, building on the range of support schemes available for beef farmers.
“The BEEP-S scheme helps to increase economic and environmental efficiency in the suckler herd though improvement in the quantity and quality of performance data collected, with a view to supporting the adoption of best practice and more informed decision making at farm level.
“The dairy beef scheme helps to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of beef from the dairy herd, and to facilitate further the integration of the dairy and beef sectors by providing support for farmers who are rearing progeny from the dairy herd,” the minister added.
BEEP-S
The BEEP-S programme targeted the weaning efficiency of suckler cows and calves, measuring the live weight of the calf at weaning as a percentage of the cow’s live weight.
According to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), in recognition of the important role of animal health and welfare issues, participants were also encouraged to implement a number of optional health and welfare measures including pre-weaning meal feeding, vaccination programmes and faecal testing.
The core action for the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme was the weighing of eligible calves, for which there was a payment of €20/calf up to a maximum of 20 calves.
“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,” the minister added.
“I have secured these critical payments for next year as part of Budget 2022 and it underlines my ongoing commitment to the beef and suckler sectors.”
It’s the second announcement of payments made by the DAFM today. Earlier, it was announced that advance GLAS-Plus payments have begun issuing also.