There were over 28,800 applications submitted to the 2026 Beef Welfare Scheme by the recent deadline of 23 September.

The number of applications is up by over 4,500 farms, or a jump of almost 19% on 2025 levels and reflects renewed optimism in suckler farming.

Applicants registered to receive text messages from the Department of Agriculture and who have been accepted into the scheme received a message earlier this week stating that they had “an item of online correspondence regarding your BWS application”.

This is simply informing applicants that their acceptance letter is available to view on MyAgfood.ie.

The letter can be accessed by logging in to your MyAgfood.ie account and selecting or searching for the 2026 Beef Welfare Scheme tab.

This will bring you in to the Beef Welfare Scheme portal. On the right of the screen there is the word ‘actions’ with three dots underneath it.

Clicking on these three dots presents two options – view application or document manager.

Clicking on the latter will then present the letter with the same ‘actions’ word and three dots. Clicking on these dots and then view document will give you the option to download the letter.

Valuable information

The letter simply outlines the actions selected by an applicant and provides a summary of what is required to comply with these actions. The most important or time-sensitive aspect for many farmers is to ensure that they have purchased required vaccines, faecal egg test kits or silage kits by the deadline of 13 October 2026.

Helpline numbers

The letter also details useful contacts for the Beef Welfare Scheme section as follows:

  • By phone - 057 8674422.
  • By e-mail - bws@agriculture.gov.ie.
  • By post - Beef Welfare Scheme 2026, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Government Offices, Old Abbeyleix Road, Portlaoise, Co Laois R32 RPA6.