SCEP: While many of the deadlines regarding SCEP are still some time away, farmers selling weanlings should be cognisant of their requirements before selling cattle, particularly heifers weanlings, this autumn.

With regards to weighing, cows and calves should be weighed on the same day and ideally when calves are five to eight months of age, though calves can be weighed from 50 days of age.

Farmers have a week to submit the weights to the ICBF, with the final cut-off date for weighing being the 1 November. It is important that weanlings are weighed prior to sale, as payments will not be made for this action if not. A registered scales linked to your herd must be used and a minimum of 80% of cow/calf pairs must be weighed.

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Farmers with a large proportion of their cows and yearling heifers may also find that genotype samples are required from heifer weanlings on farm at present.

Genotype samples should be taken for these prior to sale, with the minimum requirement being 70% of the reference number genotyped and submitted by 30 November.

Correct weaning: Spring-calving herds will begin weaning if they haven’t done so over the next few weeks, with a reduced stress for calves being the mantra that all farmers should follow.

Ensure all healthcare actions have been completed such as dosing and castration ahead of weaning to avoid completing this at weaning time, with lungworm control especially pertinent this year due to the delayed hatching off eggs. Removing some cows at a time and allowing their calves to remain with other cows as a phased weaning practice can aid in reducing stress, while many farmers report positive results in using weaning paddles in calves. Cows post-weaning should be dried off through grazing barer paddocks or stemmier type grass, or through housing to reduce milk production.

Calves should have been introduced to ration prior to weaning to greater ease the transition and keep animals gaining weight, with low-dry matter grass over the last few weeks having an impact on performance. Farmers taking part in the Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS) should remember their requirement to feed meal two weeks pre-weaning and four weeks post-weaning.

Key BWS dates: Farmers wishing to apply to the BWS need to be careful to note that the deadline for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 23 September. There is no facility for late applications and any farmer who does not have their application submitted before the 5pm deadline will miss out on participation in 2026. Applications must be submitted online via the MyAgfood.ie facility by farmers or an approved Farm Advisory System adviser.

Every suckler farmer should consider joining the scheme. Even if farmers only opted to complete the meal feeding action, it will deliver big benefits in getting paid to meal feed calves pre- and post-weaning. This has massive benefits in terms of supporting performance and also ensuring a smoother transition through the weaning process as mentioned above.