The beef reform package adopted by the Council of Agriculture Ministers in October 1996 required member states to introduce either a calf processing scheme or an early marketing premium for veal calves in order to reduce the number of calves available for the production of beef in the EU. Since there is no indigenous veal calf production in the country, Ireland is obliged to implement the calf processing scheme.
The scheme is operated under strict conditions. Only male calves less than 20 days old are eligible for the calf processing scheme.
The rate of payment is £87.02 per head for dairy breeds and £109.72 per head for beef breeds. These amounts are paid directly to approved processors. The open market value of similar calves outside the scheme is approximately the same as the rates of payment available under the processing scheme. To date, approximately 18,600 calves have been slaughtered. Of these, 95 per cent were dairy breeds and the remaining 5 per cent were beef breeds.
The scheme is to operate over the two years from December 1996 to the end of November 1998.
