Some 60,000 beef farmers have started receiving their application forms for the new suckler support scheme.
The Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) was officially launched by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney last week and it is hoped that some 35,000 farmers will end up participating in the programme.
Payments are calculated on a per hectare basis but farmers are paid on each calved cow in their herd. Farmers will get €95/cow on the first 10 calved cows in the herd with that payment dropping to €80 on each of the subsequent calved cows in the herd.
In order to qualify for the payment, a farmer must adhere to a number of criteria including having four and five star heifers and cows, having a four or five bull/AI, recording calving data and completing a carbon navigator.
Completed applications must be returned by registered post to the Department of Agriculture in Portlaoise, Co Laois by 29 May.
(Source – Irish Farmers Journal – Patrick Donohoe – 11/05/2015)