12 MARCH 2020

ICSA suckler chair Ger O’Brien has welcomed the announcement by Minister Creed of a new enhanced BEEP scheme, which has been made possible by funding secured in the budget last autumn. “The new scheme includes an extra optional €30/cow & calf for feeding meal to calves before weaning, in line with the old suckler welfare scheme. This, along with a higher payment for weighing the first ten cows and calves, will make the scheme a lot more attractive for farmers and is very welcome in the face of relentless bad news.”

“The 2019 scheme resulted in the payment of just over €15 million to some 16,500 farmers. This information is very important for ICBF with a view to better data on how animals are performing. ICBF have scales available to hire in every county and have technicians available with scales who can input weights directly into the database. However, the scheme was slow to take off and the new enhanced scheme addresses many of the complaints. In particular, the new scheme is now more attractive to smaller herd owners because there is a higher payment (€50) on the first ten cows and because there is an option to get an extra €30 per head for either feeding meal or vaccinating calves before weaning. In addition, there is an optional €10/ head payment for doing a faecal egg sample.”

“All in all, these are sensible measures that will lead to less stress for calves at weaning time which in turn will benefit buyers including Irish finishers and live exporters. Taking samples will assist in ensuring that dosing is much more targeted and will help counteract immunity from dosing products.”

ENDS