Farmers are being reminded that the deadline for applications to the new Sheep Improvement Scheme is midnight on Monday 9 January.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said some 16,100 farmers have already applied to the scheme.

“The Sheep Improvement Scheme is an important support to sheep farmers and I would urge all eligible applicants to apply before Monday’s deadline,” he said.

The Sheep Improvement Scheme replaces the Sheep Welfare Scheme on 1 February 2023.

The scheme year will run from 1 February to 31 December 2023 and farmers are reminded that the scheme actions must be completed between 1 February and 31 December 2023.

From 2024, the scheme year will coincide with the calendar year, which will make the administration of the scheme more straightforward for farmers, advisers and the Department.

Contact

The Department has said it will write to those farmers who have selected the scanning action and give them an opportunity to change their actions for 2023, if they so wish (for example, if they normally carry out scanning in January).

Farmers can also select the genotyped ram action in 2023, which would replace the scanning action in that year, it said.

Applications for the scheme can be made by the farmer or by a Farm Advisory System (FAS) approved adviser via the application facility on www.agfood.ie.

Other key dates

The new sheep scheme is part of a range of new schemes which will start this year under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The main scheme opening and closing dates for the first half of 2023 are outlined here.