On Friday, IFA president Eddie Downey welcomed the rolling out of the new beef scheme, describing it as "a vital income support to maintain our valuable national suckler cow herd".

The IFA is encouraging all suckler farmers to apply.

With a tight timeframe before the 29 May deadline, Downey called on Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to "ensure that applications are sent out to all farmers immediately and there are no delays in processing so payments are made to suckler farmers by the end of this year, as promised".

The IFA's livestock committee chairman Henry Burns highlighted concerns with the implementation of the BDGP, particularly the costs farmers will incur to comply with some of the criteria and the practical implications of breeding requirements.

Meanwhile, the ICSA's suckler chairman Dermot Kelleher expressed concern at the prospect of clawbacks on all payments made under the scheme if a farmer exits before 2020.

"This is tying people into suckling, whether they are making money or not," Kelleher told the Irish Farmers Journal.

His first reaction to the details of the scheme was therefore to wonder about the benefit of "keeping people for six years in a business that is not making a lot of money," he added.