The 2026 National Beef Welfare Scheme is expected to run in a similar manner to the 2025 scheme.

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has confirmed that the actions will be similar to the 2025 scheme, with the addition of bluetongue virus vaccination.

The minister has also said that there will be a payment of up to €75/eligible beef-sired calf born to a dam of a beef breed, with payment to 45 head in 2025.

The reason for the scheme not opening until August is for farmers or advisors acting on their behalf to be in a position to select the number of calves on which they wish to complete actions upon. For the 2026 scheme year, potentially eligible calves are those born from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.

Farmers wishing to sell calves in the coming weeks or planning to complete actions early, can progress with the assumption that terms and conditions will be similar as in 2025.

Likely actions

  • Meal feeding pre- and post-weaning: This action has been the core element of beef welfare schemes since they were introduced. It is a mandatory action and requires meal to be fed to calves at an appropriate rate for at least four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks post-weaning. This means that where meal feeding has not commenced farmers will not be in a position to sell calves until at least six weeks later. Invoices for meal purchases and dates of feeding must align in the scheme action booklet. The payment has been set at €35/head in recent years.
  • Vaccination strategies: The second action, vaccination strategies is optional and offers payment of up to €15/head (€12/head in 2025). There is a third option along with clostridial disease vaccination and pneumonia vaccination in 2026 and this is vaccination for bluetongue virus. The terms and conditions of the scheme have allowed some flexibility for farmers to implement a programme most suitable for their enterprise, with the caveat that farmers must abide by product guidelines and veterinary advice.
  • Faecal egg testing/forage testing: The third action is also optional and in previous years offered payment of up to €25/eligible calf (€20 in 2025). This action is not as time-sensitive as the other actions may be for some farmers with plenty of time to carry these out later in the year.

    • Bluetongue vaccination

    While the requirement under the vaccination strategies action is to vaccinate calves the Irish Farmers Journal understands that there are no issues with farmers vaccinating cows as the first line of defence and to safeguard next year’s calf crop.

    The only stipulation is that the full vaccination course must be administered and that at least the same number of animals must be vaccinated as the number of calves on which payment is being claimed.