A payment rate of up to €150/cow will apply in the new Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme, which will replace the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP).

It has been allocated funding of €260m or approximately €52m per annum.

The proposed payment rate is €150 per cow on the first 10 cows in the herd and €120 per cow on the remaining cows. It is expected that there will be in the region of 400,000 cows included in the scheme.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said the scheme will build on the progress achieved in BDGP in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of suckler beef. In this regard it is envisaged that the scheme will follow closely along the measures of BDGP, including genotyping animals, selecting replacements on the replacement index and the recording of production data.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that the weighing element currently included in the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme-Sucklers may be subsumed into the new scheme, with other measures replacing this in any future BEEP-S scheme. BEEP-S does not come under the current Rural Development Programme (RDP) remit as it is funded entirely by national Exchequer funding.

Minister of State Martin Heydon said the next RDP will have a much greater focus on health and safety. One such measure is the inclusion of livestock handling training as a requirement of the new suckler scheme.

Similar to the BDGP, farmers who wish to participate in the scheme will have to commit to participating for the five-year contract.