The number of eligible calves that can be paid on in the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme will be cut be almost 20 due to the scheme being oversubscribed.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has told stakeholders that, under the scheme, over 305,000 calves were weighed by the deadline of November 1.

However, the scheme only has a budget of €4 million.

The department said that, to stay within that budget, the maximum payable animals will have to be reduced from 50 to 31.

Assuming the payment rate of €20/calf is maintained, the maximum payment rate per farmer will be €620, rather than €1,000, a reduction of 38%.

These reduced payments are expected to issue this week.

The confirmation that the total payments in the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme follows on from similar cuts to two other schemes earlier this month.

Payment rates (rather than eligible animals) for the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) and the National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS) were reduced because the schemes were oversubscribed.

Payment rates for 2025 were cut from €75/calf to €67/calf in the NBWS, and from €13/ewe to €11.50/ewe in the NSWS.

Payment runs for those schemes have already commenced.

Reaction

The latest payment cut, for the Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme, has drawn the ire from farm organisations, who were already critical of the department's move to cut payments in the earlier two schemes.

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) described the reduction in eligible calves as "a further disappointment for farmers that have invested in their calves", and that it is "an injustice" that those farmers who applied for the scheme are not being supported.

Meanwhile, Martin McElearney, the Dairy Committee chairperson for the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), said that any farmers that apply for a scheme that the department has opened have done so in good faith, and if they carry out the actions required under the scheme they should be paid in full.

McElearney said that the cash flow issues on dairy farms at the moment due to reduced milk cheques will compound the reduction in scheme payments.

Michael O'Connell, the livestock chairperson for the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA), said: "Over the past two budgets and from two different ministers, we've been told about the importance of dairy beef and the need to recognise that by incentivising it with financial aid.

"They should find the money to pay for all the 50 calves. That was the condition of the scheme, and it should be honoured," O'Connell said.

He called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon to "stand over the commitment" to pay €20/calf up to 50 calves.

"Farmers are making significant progress in terms of efficiency on farm, increasing carcass weights by use of better genetics, reduction of age to slaughter and reduction of emissions, etc. But all the benefit is to the wider populations and excludes the individual farmers doing the work," the ICMSA livestock chair added.