Brendan Griffin
Ceist:88. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his advice regarding an issue (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22130/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 15 May 2024
Ceisteanna (88)
Freagraí scríofa
The National Dairy Beef Welfare scheme to which the Deputy refers was a national scheme which operated in 2023. This scheme paid farmers (dairy farmers or non-dairy farmers who bought in dairy beef calves) who reared dairy beef calves, €20 per calf to weigh them and upload the weights to ICBF.
This scheme is now replaced by the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) Dairy Beef Welfare scheme (DBWS). The objective of the CSP Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme (DBWS) is to incentivise the use of genetic tools to improve the beef merit of progeny from dairy herds. Breeding with high Dairy Beef Index (DBI) sires has established progeny performance benefits as measured by their Commercial Beef Value (CBV). The scheme supports the use of the DBI to produce calves with a higher CBV.
The DBWS is a breeding measure which supports farmers using genotyped and genetically superior beef sires for breeding dairy beef calves. Participants will be required to have calves born on their holding in the scheme year which must be sired by a 3 or 4 or 5-star stock bull or from 3 or 4 or 5-star AI straws, or a mixture of both, to be eligible for payment in each scheme year for which an application has been submitted.
The scheme runs from 2024 to 2027 inclusive. Scheme year one is in respect of calves born between 01 January 2024 and 31 December 2024, and each succeeding scheme year is from 01 January to 31 December for calves born in that calendar year.
Applicants can apply for this scheme on agfood.ie from 21 March 2024 until 23:59 on 15 May 2024, followed by a further 25 days albeit with late penalties.
The payment rate is €20 per eligible calf up to a maximum of 50 caves for each of the scheme years. Payments for scheme year 1 (2024) will be made in March 2025 to farmers who satisfy the scheme requirements. Payments will issue each year in March following the scheme year end.