The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is urging farmers to apply for the 2022 run of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S), which opened for applications today (Wednesday, March 16).
Brendan Golden, the association’s livestock chairperson, said earlier: “Today’s announcement by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is an important support for suckler farmers.
The scheme will be funded to the tune of €40 million in 2022.
“Suckler farmers are the backbone of our beef industry and IFA continues to look for strong supports for them.”
Golden highlighted that the current volatility means farmers “need certainty around future funding”.
He called on the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to “give a clear commitment that supports will continue”.
Both the BEEP-S and the Dairy Beef Calf Measure opened for applications today.
Applications for the two measures can be lodged through agfood.ie, with the closing date for both on Monday, April 25. The two schemes together are worth €45 million.
BEEP-S has a funding provision of €40 million in 2022 and targets the weaning efficiency of suckler cows and calves by measuring the live weight of the calf at weaning as a percentage of the cow’s live weight.
Applicants to the scheme can also select from a number of optional health and welfare measures, including meal feeding or vaccination of weanlings; and/or faecal egg testing of suckler cows.
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 all actions under the scheme are applied for.
The Dairy Beef Calf Measure, meanwhile, has a budget of €5 million this year.
Following on from the pilot in 2021, the objective of this measure is to “increase the economic and environmental efficiency of beef from the dairy herd”, the Department of Agriculture said.
The aim of the measure is to facilitate the further integration of the dairy and beef sectors by providing support for farmers who are rearing progeny from the dairy herd.
The core action is the weighing of eligible calves, for which there is a payment of €20 per calf, up to a maximum of 40 calves, increased from 20 in the pilot measure.