The deadline for submission of applications to the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S) and Dairy Beef pilot is 26 April.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said there has been a strong start to the 2021 BEEP-S application process, with 12,167 applications received to date.

Under BEEP-S, participants may be eligible for up to €90 for the first 10 suckler cow/calf pairs per herd, and up to €80 per pair thereafter, subject to an overall maximum of 100 pairs per herd.

BEEP-S has a funding provision of €40m in 2021 and targets the weaning efficiency of suckler cows and calves by measuring the liveweight of the calf at weaning as a percentage of the cow's live weight.

Applicants to the scheme can also select from a number of optional health and welfare measures including meal feeding or vaccination of weanlings and/or faecal egg testing of suckler cows.

Dairy beef

The Minister also reminded farmers that the new Dairy Beef Calf measure for 2021, which has a budget allocation of €5 million in 2021 will also close on 26 April 2021.

The core action is the weighing of eligible calves for which there is a payment of €20 per calf up to a maximum of 20 calves.

Minister McConalogue acknowledged the strong potential for better integration of dairy and beef systems to provide a new income stream for beef farmers.

“The aim of this pioneering dairy beef calf measure is to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of beef from the dairy herd and to facilitate further the integration of the dairy and beef sectors.

“Given this is a completely new measure, the level of interest thus far has been encouraging with 1,939 applications received to date.”

Applications for both schemes must be completed online through agfood.ie.

Farmers are reminded to ensure their application is submitted, rather than remaining in the drafts section.