Details of the new suckler scheme, the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS), were revealed this week.
The scheme will incentivise suckler farmers for meal-feeding suckler-bred calves in advance of and after weaning, and in testing for the presence of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) in their herds.
Applications must be lodged online through agfood.ie with a closing date of September 12.
The scheme will pay suckler farmers €35/calf, up to a maximum of 40 calves, for meal feeding. This means farmers can earn up to €1,400 for this action.
However, it has been criticised by farm organisations for being underfunded.
Farmers must also get their herd tested for IBR by engaging a veterinarian to select, blood sample, and test up to 20 animals for IBR antibodies.
When a herd has 20 or more bovines, 20 must be tested. If a herd has fewer than 20 bovines, then all must be tested.
Farmers will be paid up to €300/herd on the IBR testing action, depending on the number of animals tested for IBR.
The table below outlines the payment rates under the NBWS:
The maximum payment that suckler farmers can secure from the scheme (between both the testing and feeding actions) is €1,700/herd.
National Beef Welfare Scheme: Penalty
Both meal feeding and IBR testing are mandatory actions for the scheme, but where a suckler farmer enters the scheme and fails to complete one of the two actions, a 10% penalty will apply.
The table below outlines the penalty schedule:
Where one of the two actions is not completed, there is no payment for the uncompleted action and there is a 10% payment penalty on the action that was completed, according to the scheme terms and conditions.
As an example, ‘herdowner A’ has 40 beef bovines, 20 of which are calves and 20 are suckler cows. 20 calves are selected for meal feeding.
Herdowner A does not carry out any IBR testing so has not complied with action 1 (mandatory action).
The following penalties will apply to herdowner A in this scenario:
In another example, ‘herdowner B’ has 40 beef bovines, 20 of which are calves and 20 are suckler cows. 20 calves are selected for meal feeding.
Herdowner B does not carry out any meal feeding and/or has not provided receipts when requested within the stated timeframe, so has not complied with action 2 (mandatory action).
The following penalties will apply to herdowner B:
Receipts, invoices and labels of all compound feeding stuffs, and/or straights (feed materials) and complementary mineral mixtures purchased must be retained.