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Minister Heydon announces opening of the 2026 Beef Welfare Scheme
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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, has today confirmed that the 2026 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS) will open this week for applications.
Minister Heydon commented:
“This year’s scheme is very similar in structure to last year’s version. It contains the same broad range of straightforward measures, along with the new inclusion of an additional option to vaccinate animals against the current strain of the bluetongue virus (BTV-3). Bluetongue vaccination has been allowed in Ireland since the beginning of the year and in March I announced that it would be funded as an optional action in both the 2026 beef and sheep welfare schemes. I would urge livestock owners to consult a private veterinary practitioner when deciding on the best vaccination strategy for their particular enterprise.”
The BWS supports farmers in meal feeding suckler calves at weaning and in undertaking other voluntary actions that optimise animal performance while allowing farmers to maximise their payments within the overall scheme allocation.
All suckler farmers with eligible calves born on their holdings between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 can apply for this scheme.
Applications must be lodged online through the MyAgFood.ie portal no later than 05:00 PM on Wednesday, 23 September 2026. There is no facility for late applications. This will allow participants who have passed all the necessary validation checks to be paid before the end of the year. Suckler farmers can simultaneously participate in both the BWS and the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).
Concluding, Minister Heydon said:
“It is important to remember that this scheme is part of a package of dedicated supports for suckler and beef farmers. Combined with the SCEP and Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme, all three schemes are worth over €83 million to farmers in 2026. I encourage all eligible farmers to read the scheme terms and conditions and to submit their applications on time.”
The BWS terms and conditions, including details of penalties where non-compliances are identified, are available here.
Participants are reminded to retain copies of receipts for the meal feeding and for the vaccination and testing actions, if they also choose those options. They should maintain relevant records and submit them, on request, to the Department to facilitate the efficient processing of scheme payments.
BWS participants should not select the optional faecal count action if they are also participating in the Parasite Control Consult programme under the Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH). The TASAH programme involves herd or flock visit by a nominated veterinary practitioner who will examine parasite control management on-farm, make customised recommendations on best practice and conduct a faecal egg count test for roundworms (stomach or gut worms).
Notes
The meal feeding action is mandatory, but farmers have the option to vaccinate their herds against bluetongue, clostridial diseases and/or calf pneumonia as well as to carry out faecal testing or forage testing where it suits their production systems. The deadline for completion of all actions is 13 October 2026.
Farmers (or a FAS advisor acting on their behalf) must indicate at application stage which, if any, voluntary actions they intend to complete. They will have the option at application stage of selecting a lower number of animals for the vaccination action than for the meal feeding action, if they so wish. If the testing action is selected, the number of animals eligible for payment will be the number of animals selected for meal feeding at application stage.
In the event of the scheme being oversubscribed, the maximum number of animals eligible for payment or the rate payable per action may be reduced. A linear cut may be applied to one or more actions.