The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that it will be writing to participants in the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) in the coming days to outline their situation with regard to where they are at in terms of stocking rate and nitrogen production.

Participants in the scheme must reduce the amount of bovine nitrogen produced on their holding by 5% during the period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, based on the reference period.

Participants are advised to contact their Teagasc adviser or agricultural consultant to determine what actions are required between now and 30 June 2021 to avoid getting penalties or paying the money back.

The ICBF has recently launched an online BEAM calculator, which has your live herd profile populated and numbers can then be predicted for the rest of the year.

It can be accessed in the HerdPlus section on www.icbf.com.