Sizing up the National Beef Welfare Scheme

James Fitzgerald

A new one year scheme aimed at suckler cow farms was announced by the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue recently and will remain open for applications until September 12^th. This scheme, with a total budget of €23 million is viewed as a replacement for the previous BEEP-S scheme and will deliver a payment of €50/cow for the first 20 cows and €35/cow for an additional 20 cows, with two mandatory actions involved.

Meal Feeding

The first action to be completed as part of the scheme involves feeding meal to weanlings for a duration of 4 weeks pre-weaning and 2 weeks post-weaning. The meal used must be a compounded feed containing appropriate minerals & vitamins, with a recommended feeding rate of 1kg/calf/day. To ensure full compliance with this element of the scheme, farmers must retain feed receipts which correspond with the 6 week feeding period around the farms weaning date. The aim of this action is to improve animal welfare and performance around weaning time and is a practice that farmers are accustomed to under previous suckler cow schemes. This action will deliver a payment of €35 per weanling fed up to a maximum of 40 weanlings.

IBR testing

The second action to be completed is a novel one and marks the first time that blood testing for IBR (Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis) has been included in a suckler cow scheme. Participating farmers will be required to have their vet blood sample up to 20 cattle for IBR before November 1^st. The animals sampled ideally will be made up of breeding stock over 9 months of age but other cattle can be used also if 20 of such animals are not available. Completing this action will fetch a further €15 payment per animal up to a 20 animal maximum. It is worth noting that there will be no requirement on farmers to cull or vaccinate any animals should they fail the IBR test.

What is IBR?

IBR is a viral disease of cattle with symptoms ranging from respiratory tract infections to poor reproductive performance. The severity of the disease can vary between animals from no detectable symptoms to very severe illness. Because of this an animal which has never shown any signs of infection can be a carrier and spreader of the disease. It is estimated that 70-80% of all herds in Ireland are infected with IBR to some extent, which will come as a surprise to many farmers who do not already vaccinate against IBR. This high rate of IBR prevalence in the Irish herd is undoubtedly having a negative effect on herd health and performance, often unbeknownst to the farmer.

Sizing up the new scheme

While some farmers might view the IBR testing action as a drain on scheme funds and an addition to workload, it could equally be viewed as an opportunity to screen your herd for a disease which could be holding back animal performance and in the long run adding to your workload. Each farmer must size up this new scheme for themselves with the deciding factors likely to be based around the income from the scheme, farmer workload and the perceived need to improve herd health. Though some might take the viewpoint that the income potential from this scheme is relatively low, it is worth considering that the potential benefits of the scheme could go beyond direct income. The potential for improved animal performance and health from both the meal feeding and IBR testing are benefits which should be factored into the equation.