IFA Welcome Extension to €40 Per Cow BEEP Scheme Weighing

IFA President Joe Healy has welcomed the extension to the BEEP scheme for weighing animals as announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed.

Joe Healy said the deadline for weighing cows and calves under the BEEP (Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot) Scheme has been extended to November 8th and farmers have up to November 15th to have the data submitted to ICBF.

IFA had called for an extension to the scheme earlier this week and the President was in direct contact with Minister Creed on the matter.

The IFA President encouraged farmer applicants under the scheme to immediately weight cows and calves in order to qualify for the €40 payment.

He said that to date some 350,000 cow/calf weights have been submitted to ICBF and there is potential for another significant volume of data to be submitted.

Joe Healy said a strong IFA campaign had secured the €20m funding in the BEEP scheme in 2018 and this was followed up with another €20m in 2019. In addition, a further €20m was delivered for the beef sector in Budget 2020 for animal welfare and vaccination.

He said it was very important that there was a positive response from farmers to these schemes, which provide valuable support for suckler farmers.