From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, today confirmed that payments under the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) have commenced. In total, over €14.2 million has commenced issuing to 15,834 participating farmers.
The Minister commented:
“I am pleased to confirm that payments have now commenced under the National Beef Welfare Scheme, building on the range of support schemes available for beef farmers.
"The objective of the National Beef Welfare Scheme is to further increase the economic efficiency of and enhance animal health and husbandry on suckler farms.”
There are two actions in the scheme, and both are mandatory. Participants must introduce meal feeding for a period of four weeks pre-weaning and two weeks post-weaning to reduce calf stress at weaning time. Farmers will be paid €35 per eligible calf up to a maximum of 40 calves.
Farmers must also get their herd tested for IBR by engaging a veterinarian to select, blood sample and test up to twenty animals for IBR antibodies. Where a herd has twenty or more bovines, twenty must be tested. If a herd has less than twenty bovines, then all must be tested. Farmers will be paid up to €300 per herd depending on the number of animals tested for IBR.
The Minister concluded by stating:
“The issuing of payment under the National Beef Welfare Scheme is another crucial support to the beef sector and builds on the issuing of €5 million under the National Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme last week.”
Payments will be visible in farmers' bank accounts in the coming days.