Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has announced the opening of applications for the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S) as well as the Dairy Beef Calf Measure for 2022.
Applications for the measure can be lodged through agfood.ie with the closing date on Monday, April 25. The two schemes are worth €45 million.
Commenting on the opening of BEEP-S, Minister McConalogue said: “As part of Budget 2022, I secured these two crucial schemes to ensure that our farm families can be rewarded for their hard work in driving important efficiency gains within our world-class beef sector.
“A key focus of mine as minister is supporting efficient suckler and beef farming. They are the backbone of many rural communities and are a key part of the foundation of our €13.5 billion agri-food export sector.
“BEEP-S has proven to be a farmer-friendly scheme that provides an important income support as well as driving further genetic improvements in the sector,” he added.
Minister McConalogue also acknowledged the potential for better integration of dairy and beef systems, particularly the role of dairy beef in providing a new diversification option for beef farmers.
Dairy Beef Calf Measure
With a budget of €5 million this year, and following 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.
BEEP-S
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 application process for both measures will remain open until Monday, April 25.
Details of the scheme have been notified to the European Commission in accordance with the COVID-19 Temporary State Aid Framework, and approval of applications under the measure will be subject to commission decisions on the measure.
Applications must be completed online at agfood.ie and farmers should ensure their application is actually submitted, rather than having a status as a ‘draft application’ on agfood.ie.
Participants in the 2021 scheme who wish to participate in this year’s measure must submit a new application.