BDGP participants warned 'miss deadline and risk whole payment'

The penalty for not meeting requirements is 100% for the 2022 BDGP rollover scheme - as well as the possibility of not getting into any future rollovers.

Close-up of several brown and white Hereford calves eating ground corn from a black plastic feed bunk. Focus is on the calf nearest the camera. Taken on an evening in late summer/early autumn.

The nearly 17,000 farmers still in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) this year have been warned they could lose their entire payment if they miss a June 30 Bull or AI deadline.

Teagasc Beef Specialist Martina Harrington has advised there is a 100% penalty if you miss the June 30 deadline.

If using a stock bull, at least one animal on the holding on June 30 must have been a genotyped four or five star bull on either the Terminal or Replacement index (on a within or across breed basis) at the time of purchase.

If renting in bulls for breeding, you must use bulls that are four or five star on either the Terminal or Replacement index (on a within or across breed basis). You must also inform the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, if you are leasing a bull.

All movements of bulls for breeding between holdings must be notified to the Animal Identification & Movement system, and must comply with animal health and movement legislation. Specifically, these bulls must have cleared a pre-movement test for TB and BVD.

If using AI, at least 80% of the AI used must be from four or five-star bulls on either the Terminal or Replacement index (on a within or across breed basis).

If you use both a bull and AI, you must meet the requirements of both.

The penalty for not meeting these requirements is 100% for the 2022 BDGP rollover scheme - as well as the possibility of not getting into any future rollovers.

If you used a stock bull in 2021, and are using AI this spring, to avoid a penalty, you need to notify the DAFM ([e-mail]) as they will see no stock bull listed for you on June 30, and no AI-born progeny. If in doubt, contact your Teagasc advisor.

The Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP I) was extended for a rollover period of one year in 2021, and further extended again in November and December 2021, for a further one year in 2022. This is a one-year annual extension of those BDGP I participants who were in the 2021 BDGP I transitional scheme.

However, the DAFM has indicated that only 12,432 applications were received through agfood.ie with a further 4,319 applications by SMS message.

When the BDGP was launched in 2015, 29,000 farmers applied for the six-years scheme, but there has been a very large dropout rate.