Smith unveils €1m grant to help improve cattle and sheep breeding

A €1 MILLION grant to support improvements in the breeding of cattle and sheep in 2010 was announced yesterday by Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith.

A total of €800,000 of the grant will be paid this year to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) for beef and dairy cattle breeding, while the balance (€200,000) will go to Sheep Ireland for sheep breeding activities.

This funding is additional to the €1.5m announced earlier this year for ICBF and Sheep Ireland under the National Development Plan.