All you need to know about the new National Beef Welfare Scheme
Following the launch of the new National Beef Welfare Scheme by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Catherine Egan is joined by Aidan Murray, Teagasc Beef Specialist, who outlines what's involved with the replacement to Beep-S on this week's Beef Edge podcast.
The new scheme, which is funded by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR), is a one year programme. It essentially replaces the old BEEP-S scheme, where applicants had to weigh the unweaned cow and calf, with the option of either meal feeding pre and post-weaning, vaccination of calves or optional faecal sampling.
For the new scheme, the weighing component no longer features as it now part of the Suckler Cow Efficiency Programme (SCEP). The faecal sampling and the calf vaccination have also been dropped. There are no optional components this time around, both required measures are mandatory:
1). IBR testing
Each participant must commit to participate in the IBR testing action managed by ICBF on behalf of DAFM. They are required to engage a PVP (vet) who will blood sample and test up to 20 bovine animals per herd, ideally 9 months old (if feasible) or above if present in the herd, or all ages if there is less than 20 in the herd for IBR gE antibodies. Where a herd has 20 or more bovines, a minimum of 20 must be tested. Where a herd has less than 20 bovines, all must be tested. Payments per head are set out below.
Number of bovines tested - payment rates:
- Between 2 to 6 animals (inclusive) - €120
- Between 7 to 10 animals (inclusive) - €180
- Between 11 to 15 animals (inclusive) - €250
- Between 16 to 20 animals (inclusive) - €300
2). Meal feeding
Participants must introduce meal feeding for a period of four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks post-weaning to reduce the stress on calves at weaning time. Eligible suckler calves are those born between 1st July 2022 and 30th June 2023. The rate of payment is €35 per calf for a maximum of 40 calves.
In the podcast below, Aidan and Catherine discuss the new National Beef Welfare Scheme:
Applications
Applications are open online at www.agfood.ie and will remain open until midnight on the 12th of September. Applicants may apply themselves online or they can get their approved FAS adviser to apply. It is important to note that there is no late application facility with this scheme, so September 12th will be the final date for applications. Once you make an application, it will be up to you to make contact with the vet (PVP) to arrange the IBR blood testing. The vet will then send the samples to one of the DAFM approved labs. Because DAFM hope to make payments for the scheme before the end of 2023, both actions of meal feeding and IBR testing will have to be undertaken by November 1st.
For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com, visit the show page.