Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has been called on to extend the deadline for submitting dung samples under the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme Suckler (BEEP-S) scheme due to the unavailability of sampling kits.
Making the calls, Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) suckler chairman Ger O’Brien said:
“The situation has become urgent; farmers have been unable to acquire the necessary kits in order to complete this requirement under the scheme.
Likewise, labs are having difficulties processing the sheer volume of samples.
“The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine needs to give some leeway on this,” he said.
“ICSA has received reports from around the country on this issue and we do not want to see any farmers losing out as a result of hold-ups in the system,” the chairman said.
O’Brien also called for clarity around the requirement for submitting meal feeding documents under the scheme.
The ICSA understands that this is not a requirement for all BEEP-S participants and applies only to farmers who have received a specific instruction to submit such documentation.
“However, the issue is causing much confusion amongst farmers and requires further clarification from the department,” the suckler chairman claimed.