Margaret Brennan, Assistant Principal Officer over Beef Schemes with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the new Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme that was announced recently and to give an update on all things scheme related.

Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme

Margaret, outlines the 2025 Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme which is open for applications. It is open to dairy farmers rearing their own dairy-beef calves or farmers rearing dairy beef progeny from the dairy herd, and a total of €4 million has been allocated to the scheme, resulting in payment rates of €20 per eligible calf. 

To be eligible, participants must have a minimum of five eligible calves, while the maximum payment rate is on 50 calves. 

Applications for the 2025 Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme must be lodged online through agfood.ie before midnight on Thursday, 15 May 2025. 

Late applications will be accepted, subject to payment deductions, until midnight on Monday, 9 June 2025.

These eligible calves must have been:

-       At least 12 weeks of age at the time of weighing and has been registered on the holding s/he is being weighed on for a minimum of 10 days prior to the date of weighing;

-       In the applicant’s herd for at least 10 days before weighing;

-       Born between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025.

Through the scheme, participants will be required to weigh eligible calves and submit weight data to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). 

Weight data should be submitted within seven days of weighing and before 17.30 hours on 1 November 2025. 

Farmers should note that they will only be paid on the number of calves in respect of which they submit liveweight data.

SCEP

In relation to the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP), 2025 is an important year for farmers involved in this scheme as applicants are required to ensure that by the 31st October 2025 at least 65% of their yearly reference number are eligible females that are genotyped 4 or 5 stars on the replacement index (on a within or across breed basis) at the time of purchase (for replacements brought into the herd) or at the time of genotyping (for those replacements bred within the herd).

Finally Margaret also highlighted the deadline for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme (BISS) is May 15th.

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge

 
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