Farmers in the business of rearing suck calves or dairy-beef calves are set to receive a payment of €20 per calf reared on their farms.

Confirmation of the payment was given yesterday, Wednesday, October 20, as the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, revealed details of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding allocations for each agricultural scheme at a special conference at government buildings.

One of the suite of measures under Pillar II of the new CAP – which will run from 2023 – 2027 – is the allocation of €25 million over the 5-year term to the Dairy Calf-Beef Scheme.

While farmers rearing dairy calves for beef will no doubt welcome the payment, the suckler Carbon Efficiency scheme has been allocated a substantially higher figure of €260 million over the 5-year period.

The €25 million will be distributed in a manner that will support 250,000 calves in the scheme per year at €20 per head.

The final details of this scheme has yet to be drawn up but Agriland understands the scheme will replicate the €5 million Dairy Beef Calf weighing scheme which was introduced this year.

While it has yet to be confirmed if there will be an upper limit on the number of calves eligible per herd number in the new scheme, it is likely the scheme will replicate the programme in place this year where each applicant may only receive payment on the first 20 calves reared.

The scheme introduced this year consisted of a core action which involved the weighing of eligible calves for which there is a payment of €20 per calf up to a maximum of 20 calves – hence, a farmer can avail of up to €400 under this scheme.

Under the existing scheme which was introduced this year, all weights are to be submitted within seven days of weighing and before November 1, 2021.

Calves must be at least 12 weeks old at the time of weighing and must have been born on or after January 1, 2021 to be eligible.

Payments for this scheme will be made in December 2021.

Stay tuned to Agriland for further updates on the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP).