The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, wants to see “every calf have a beef value” as part of the ongoing development of the dairy beef sector.
Minister McConalogue has confirmed that he will launch a new Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme under the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) Strategic Plan in March.
But in the meantime a consultation on a new “action plan” focused on highlighting the potential of dairy calf to beef systems as an option for farmers has been unveiled.
The minister has warned that “making dairy calf to beef systems a profitable and sustainable option for farmers “requires a huge national effort.
However, Minister McConalogue has also emphasised that it is important to ensure that the calves coming off the dairy herd have “beef merits”
The minister told Agriland: “Once the calf leaves the dairy farm – and we want it to be healthy and strong – I want to see the beef farmer that buys that make money off it and for it to be really profitable”.
China
According to Minister McConalogue the 22 factories in Ireland which are registered with the Chinese authority can resume exporting beef to China as soon as possible.
Beef shipments to China had been suspended following the confirmation in November 2023 of an isolated case of atypical BSE.
But this week, together with his colleague Minister of State, Martin Heydon, Minister McConalogue announced that the ban on Irish beef exports to China had been lifted.
He said the government wants to ensure that there are major markets for beef farmers to generate income for famiy farms and to make sure that every “possible market is available to sell Irish cattle”.
Fodder
One third of farmers who took part in a snap Agriland survey over a 24-hour period earlier this month have said they are now running short of fodder.
At least 33% of farmers who took part in the survey will at some stage have to purchase fodder.
Minister McConalogue said he closely monitors the fodder situation and he has asked the National Fodder and Food Security Committee (NFFSC) to meet next week to assess the current position and communicate where farmers are at.
ACRES payments
In relation to payments under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine told Agriland that “every week at the moment we’re continuing to roll out the payment”.
“Everyone in the team was disappointed last year that despite our best efforts we didn’t manage to get the Co-operation (CP) payments significantly paid as well as the General payments.
“Obviously it goes back to the decision I made last year to accept every single applicant in, we had 46,000 ACRES farmers right across the country and that put a lot of pressure in relation to getting those payments out. But I didn’t want anybody to miss out last year and not be able to be in ACRES this year,” he added.
Additional reporting by Breifne O’Brien