Beef farmers are being reminded that time is running out to record weights as part of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme (BEEP).
BEEP schemes include the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S) and the Dairy Beef Calf Programme.
The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) is reminding farmers that the closing date for having weights recorded onto its database is 5:30p.m on Tuesday, November 1.
For the 2022 schemes, herd owners no longer have seven days after the closing date of the scheme to enter the weights onto the ICBF database.
If a herd owner is recording weights online or via a farm software package, the weights must be saved onto the ICBF database by 5:30p.m on Tuesday, November 1.
Likewise, if a farmer decides to submit weights by post, the forms must be received by ICBF by 5:30p.m on Tuesday, November 1.
ICBF has also outlined that it will not be possible to post weighing forms in the last days of the scheme as they may not be received by the deadline.
According to the ICBF, there are still “a significant proportion of herds who have yet to complete weighing”.
The ICBF has urged any herd that has still to record weights to make arrangements “as soon as possible”. It also said that coming towards the deadline, the scales rental system will be busy, especially over weekends, and told participants to book their scales “urgently”.
Herd owners who have already completed a weighing should check their ICBF account to ensure all weights are correctly saved and that all eligible animals have been weighed.
Scheme participants should receive a text message from ICBF after weighing with the number of valid animals weighed and farmers should check that this number is correct.
All weights can be viewed on the ICBF weight profile in a herds’ online account and suckler herds can also view their Weaning Performance Report, both of these resources can help farmers make the best use of their weights for management purposes.
As part of the BEEP-S scheme, one of the options was to collect dung samples from cows. The deadline for submission of these samples was October 3, 2022.