The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has called for a redesigned Dairy Beef Scheme, which would pay dairy and beef farmers €150/calf. ICMSA president Pat McCormack said that the scheme must be “re-energised and redesigned” if it is to play the potentially decisive part it can play in developing a profitable and sustainable trade for bull calves with dairy beef now accounting for over 60% of Irish beef production.

It has proposed that the scheme would be open to all livestock farmers. Agents and feedlots would be excluded.

Farmers who apply to the scheme must rear calves from the dairy herd and all male calves and female calves with a beef sire would be eligible for the scheme, it said.

Calves must be less than six weeks of age at the time of purchase and an initial payment of €75 could be drawn down by the farmer once the animal is weighed, between six and 10 months, the ICMSA said. “By having known weights for the animals, better feeding strategies can be employed for those lagging behind.

“The second payment of €75 is drawn down after the animal is slaughtered, and bullocks must be slaughtered within 30 months and heifers must be slaughtered within 24 months.” Farmers could only avail of the scheme on a maximum of 100 calves per year.

The ICMSA president said that while this wasn’t the whole answer, it was a big part of the solution and represented “a triple win”.

“It is more profitable, it has lower emissions and it can address some of the issues around animal welfare,” he said.

McCormack said that he hoped that the Minister for Agriculture would be more willing to look at ICMSA’s redesign for the scheme given the role it could play in light of the criticism, “much of it justified”, that had come the sector’s way following the RTÉ Investigates programme last week.