McConalogue reminds farmers of application deadline for BEEP-S and dairy beef calf programme

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., has reminded farmers and advisors that the deadline for submission of applications to the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP–S) and Dairy Beef pilot is 26 April, 2021.

Applications for both schemes must be completed online through agfood.ie.

BEEP-S

Minister McConalogue said, “The €40 million BEEP-S scheme is one of a range of measures to support sustainable suckler and beef farming using funding I secured in Budget 2021. There has been a strong start to the 2021 BEEP–S application process with 12,167 applications received to date. I would encourage any farmer that is eligible to apply to do so in time and before the 26 April 2021.”

The minister outlined that 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 and completed in full in accordance with the scheme terms and conditions.

BEEP-S has a funding provision of €40 million in 2021 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. In recognition of the crucial role of animal health and welfare in economic and environmental efficiency, 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.

DAIRY BEEF

The Minister also reminded farmers that the new dairy beef calf measure for 2021, which has a budget allocation of €5 million in 2021 will also close on 26 April 2021. The objective is to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of beef from the dairy herd, and to facilitate further the 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 20 calves.

Minister McConalogue acknowledged the strong potential for better integration of dairy and beef systems to provide a new income stream for beef farmers.

The minister stated that, “The aim of this pioneering dairy beef calf measure is to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of beef from the dairy herd and to facilitate further the integration of the dairy and beef sectors. Given this is a completely new measure, the level of interest thus far has been encouraging with 1,939 applications received to date.”

The minister, commenting on both the dairy beef measure and the BEEP-S scheme, said, “This €45 million package as a whole will support livestock farmers to improve the economic and environmental performance of their herds, while providing valuable income support for the sector. I am committed to the continued support of our suckler and beef sectors.”

The minister concluded by reminding farmers and advisors that, “applications must be done online at agfood.ie before 26 April, 2021 and to ensure their application is actually submitted, rather than having a status as a “draft application” on agfood.ie”.

The full terms and conditions for this Exchequer funded scheme are available at gov.ie - Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme Sucklers (BEEP-S) as part of the Beef Sector Efficiency Programme (www.gov. ie)