Big numbers to take part in two new beef schemes
Application forms for the schemes had been sent to 70,000 beef farmers. Applicants for the BGS must also apply for the BDP. There were 1,798 applications for the BDP only. The BGS offers qualifying farmers €40 per calf, while the BDP pays €20 per calf to those who fulfil scheme requirements. In 2014, the €23m allocated for the BGS will fund payments on about 550,000 calves — on average, about 15 calves per herd, if all 36,492 applicants are successful.
Farmers in the 2014 BGS scheme must submit samples (for DNA genotyping) from their stock bulls and from 15% of their female animals. The cows to be sampled will be nominated by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), which will use the samples to build up genetic knowledge of the beef herd. Scheme rules include removal of BVD positive or inconclusive calves.
Last year’s BDP payment ceiling on the first 20 calves per herd may also apply this year. Galway, with 8,176 suckler cow herds, had the most Beef Genomics Scheme applications, at 4,173, according to a reply by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to Éamon Ó Cuív, TD, in the Dáil.
There were 3,868 applications from the 7,145 suckler herds in Co Mayo; 2,763 from Co Clare’s 4,621 herds; 2,350 from Co Cork’s 5,854 herds; 2,160 from Roscommon’s 3,878 herds; and 2,008 from Donegal’s 4,069 herds.
