The mandatory weighing of cows and calves under the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme Sucklers (BEEP-S) had a farmer compliance rate of 95% in 2021, according to the Department of Agriculture’s 2021 spending review of the scheme.

The compliance rate for the additional meal feeding and vaccination actions, for which the vast majority of applicants applied, were 90% and 92% respectively.

Less than four in every five farmers who signed up for the faecal egg testing option complied fully with the conditions of the measure, giving this option the lowest compliance rate of all options in the scheme.

The Department of Agriculture put this down to farmers not fully reaching the “technical requirements” of this action, with some falling down on the quality of the dung sample submitted for testing and others failing to get samples in on time.

Funding breakdown

When the figures behind the compliance rates listed by the Department are analysed, it is seen that farmers received a total of €22.6m for weighing cattle out of the scheme’s total spend of €41.1m.

A further €12.7m went to farmers for meal feeding calves and €3.3m was paid out for faecal egg tests. The spend on vaccinations amounted to €2.3m.

Herd size

The Department found that by front-loading funds and imposing a maximum payment ceiling, more smaller herds applied for the scheme than had been the case with the BEEP pilot programme run in 2019.

Some 28% of the herds participating had five suckler cows or less, with a further 48% keeping between six and 20 cows.

The average age of scheme participants was younger than the national farmer average at 53, while the average farm size of those participating in BEEP-S was just under 45ha.

Weighing scales

At the beginning of the pilot stage of the scheme, it was estimated that there were approximately 1,000 cattle weighing scales in private ownership across the country. This figure rose to 4,438 by the end of 2020.

The average number of weighing events per farm was 1.13, with the Department stating that this meant most applicants were able to weigh all eligible animals at the one time.