Farmers that applied for the National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme and/or the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) are being reminded that calf weights must be recorded and submitted to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) by November 1, 2023.
According to ICBF, over 20,500 herds signed up for SCEP and 14,380 farmers joined the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme this year.
Both schemes require farmers to weigh eligible calves on weighing scales registered with ICBF and submit the weights to ICBF within seven days of weighing and no later than November 1.
Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme
Farmers who complete the scheme’s weighing requirement will receive €20/eligible calf weighed. The minimum number of calves eligible for payment is five and the maximum is 50.
According to the scheme’s terms and conditions, eligible calves should be a male calf of a dairy breed or a male or female calf from a beef breed sire born to a dairy breed dam.
Eligible calves should be born between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 and be at least 12 weeks of age at the time of weighing.
An eligible calf should be registered on the holding it is being weighed on for a minimum of 10 days prior to the date of weighing.
The weighing scales used for recording calf weights must be registered on ICBF in advance of recording weights for the scheme. If borrowing a scales, the ICBF scales reference number is required before any weighing forms can be sent. The borrowed scales reference number can also be logged online for farmers who wish to record their weight data online.
SCEP weighing
SCEP participants must weigh at least 80% of eligible animals born on the holding of the yearly reference number in each scheme year and their dams.
Each live calf must be unweaned and weighed with its dam on the applicants holding on the same day.
All calves being submitted for weighing must have been born in the herd within each scheme year.
The calf must be a minimum of 50 days old before it is eligible to be weighed and weights should be submitted within seven days of weighing and no later than November 1, annually.