It has emerged that the highest level of Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) scheme applications in the country have come from Co. Galway, with 2,070 farmers signing up.

Dublin, meanwhile, had the least number of interested parties, with just 55 applications received by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in respect of the scheme.

These numbers were revealed by Minister Michael Creed during Dáil proceedings last month when he was asked by deputy Charlie McConalogue to highlight the number of applications from each county.

Minister Creed explained that BEEP was established initially as a one-year pilot programme in an effort to “further increase” economic and environmental efficiency – in the suckler herd – through better quality data on herd performance and through supporting on-farm decision making.

He also pointed to the fact that there are currently 19,131 participants, in total, in the scheme.

County-by-county breakdown

The breakdown of the scheme by county is provided in this table (below):

Scheme requirements

Meanwhile, the requirements of BEEP include:

All calves submitted for weighing must be born between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019;
The unweaned live calf and dam must be weighed on the applicant’s holding on the same day;
Only scales registered and used in accordance with the requirements of Annex 1 of the terms and conditions of the scheme may be employed for the purposes of the pilot; 
Weights must be submitted between March 8, 2019, and November 1, 2019, in accordance with Annex 1 of the terms and conditions of the pilot; 
Upon compliance with these requirements and with the terms and conditions of the scheme applicants will be approved for payment.