The closing date to apply for the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot – Sucklers (BEEP-S) scheme is this coming Monday (April 26).
Applications for the scheme – which opened on March 16 – can be lodged through agfood.ie.
The scheme has a funding provision of €40 million. This is the second year of the BEEP-S scheme, and the third year overall of BEEP.
The scheme is designed to measure and record the live weight of calves at weaning as a percentage of the cow’s live weight.
Applicants to the scheme can also undertake a number of additional options targeting calf health and welfare.
These are: a measure for meal feeding or vaccination of weanlings; and a measure for faecal egg testing.
Under BEEP–S, participants may be eligible for up to €90 for the first 10 suckler cow/calf pairs per herd and up to €80 per pair thereafter – subject to an overall maximum of 100 pairs per herd – if they carry put all options under the scheme.
If a farmer opts just for the mandatory weighing aspect of the scheme, they will receive €50 for the first 10 pairs, and €40 thereafter (up to 100 pairs).
The vaccination or meal feeding at weaning is worth €30 per pair, while the faecal egg testing is worth €10 per pair.
Meanwhile, the deadline for payment claims to the Dairy Beef Calf Programme is also on Monday.
Like BEEP-S, applications are also made through agfood.ie.
The dairy beef scheme is funded to the tune of €5 million and the expected payment is €20/head.
Male dairy calves and both male and female dairy beef calves will be eligible for the scheme and applicants can receive payment on a maximum of 20 calves.
To be eligible, calves must be 12 weeks-of-age and on the holding at least 10 days prior to weighing.