€138 million well spent
It has also revealed the huge scope for improved productivity on farms, and that administration can soak up a lot of money that would be better spent on farms.
Introduced by Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan in January 2008, to run until the end of this year, the scheme has been 100% funded by the exchequer.
The total spend up to late 2011 was nearly €138m.
In 2006, 2007 and 2008, there was significant mortality in Irish suckler weanlings, mostly attributable to stress-related respiratory illness. These losses were hitting the live export trade. Irish cattle finishers and exporters were turning away from weanlings, knowing that it was common practice for calves to be abruptly weaned and immediately transported to the livestock mart for sale — putting them under huge stress and pre-disposing them to illness. Delayed dehorning and castration were storing up stress for the animals also. Many heifers were calving too young and too light, setting them back for their lifetime as suckler mothers.
Only about 20% of suckler farmers were doing a good job of producing healthy weanlings.
In retrospect, the wisdom of incentivising better performance in this vital section of the beefindustry was clear.
It was decided to pay €80 per cow to farmers who correctly carried out dehorning, weaning, and record keeping (because it was calculated the procedures would cost the farmer €80).
Almost 54,000 farmers responded with applications to join the scheme — much more than expected. Then, the significant downturn in the exchequer finances required the payment per cow to be slashed to €40 in 2009. Nevertheless, many stayed in the scheme, with payment made in 2010 for 58% of the country’s suckler cows.
Along with looking after the cattle better, farmers had to supply animal data three times per year — up to 25 separate items of information per calf, requiring significantly higher staff resources than if farmers were paid per herd. With three payments per year, errors to be sorted out, and relatively low uptake of online applications, administration of the scheme cost about €18m out of the total €138m.
Thus, lessons have been learned on how to model future schemes, but all in all it looks like money has been well spent in the suckler scheme. Live exports had declined in 2008 to 148,000 cattle, but recovered and increased significantly in the last two years, to almost reach 340,000 cattle in 2010, including about 60,000 weanlings. More important, Irish weanlings are now among the highest priced in the export market.
All exporters have agreed that suckler scheme weanlings (they are identified as such in marts) are on average worth an additional €67 each to their business. Irish cattle finishers estimate they are worth an additional €52 per head. The main advantages mentioned include reduced stress, improved health and ease of management.
Vets report a large fall in weanlings with respiratory conditions, and in late de-horning.
There are strong signs that at least some of the improved practices will continue on the majority of farms, without scheme funding. Some of them may become compulsory.
The scheme has brought Irish suckler farming into the 21st century. It has generated a huge amount of reliable information on each animal born, dramatically increasing the information available for genetic improvement of Irish beef cattle.
It allows Bord Bia and our beef exporters to tell consumers overseas that Irish beef is produced from welfare friendly herds.
With the benefit of hindsight, just €137m over four years to fundamentally strengthen one of Ireland’s most important indigenous industries, a vital part of the agri-food sector, looks like one of the better Irish spending decisions of the late “noughties”.
