Minister Heydon announces €4 million Dairy Beef Measure
- Published on: 25 March 2025
- Last updated on: 30 March 2025
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, today announced the opening of a new National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme (NDBWS), which will support farmers rearing progeny from the dairy herd.
Commenting on the opening of the measure, Minister Heydon said:
“To further encourage greater integration of the dairy and beef sectors, Budget 2025 provided additional support to secure progress in this area. This scheme will target farmers rearing dairy beef progeny from the dairy herd, whether they are dairy farmers rearing their own calves or non-dairy farmers rearing dairy beef calves. A successful dairy beef strategy will improve the resilience of the sector to future shocks, with additional benefits for calf health and welfare.”
The scheme to be implemented in 2025 has a budget of €4 million. Participants in the NDBWS will be required to weigh eligible calves and submit weight data to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation. To qualify for payment, liveweight data must be submitted for a minimum of five calves in a herd and for a maximum of 50. All calves must be at least 12 weeks old at the time of weighing. Weight data should be submitted within seven days of weighing and, certainly, before 17.30 hours on 1 November 2025. Farmers should note that they will only be paid on the number of calves in respect of which they submit liveweight data.
Elaborating on how the objectives of the NDBWS fit into his overall strategy for the development of dairy-beef sector, the Minister added:
“Both dairy and beef farmers recognise advantages for both buyers and sellers in a scheme that provides a market outlet for dairy beef calves, as well as an alternative business option for beef farmers. Both the national and CSP schemes are aligned with the 10-point plan to develop and support our growing dairy-beef sector, which was published by my department in March 2024. The primary objective of both schemes is to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of beef from the dairy herd. While beef from the dairy herd contributes a growing proportion of national production, I will also continue to support suckler farming as a foundation block of Irish beef output.”
Applications for the 2025 NDBWS must be lodged online through agfood.ie before midnight on Thursday, 15 May 2025. Late applications will be accepted, subject to payment deductions, until midnight on Monday, 9 June 2025.
The scheme terms and conditions can be accessed here: gov.ie - 2025 National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme.
Notes
The 2025 National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme is a successor to similar schemes which operated in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and were aimed at providing a diversification option for beef farmers.
The objectives of the 2025 NDBWS are to support decision making on farms through better quality data on herd performance; to increase the economic and environmental efficiency of the beef from the dairy herd; and to facilitate further the integration of the dairy and beef sectors by supporting rearing dairy calves destined for beef production.
The NDBWS will complement the EU co-funded Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme funded under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan until 2027 with a budget of €25 million. The CSP scheme is a breeding measure which supports dairy farmers using genotyped and genetically superior beef sires for breeding dairy beef calves. Farmers who satisfy the scheme requirements receive a payment of €20 per eligible calf up to a maximum of 50 calves per holding.
In addition to the NDBWS announced today, a sum of €28 million was allocated in Budget 2025 for the operation of an exchequer-funded suckler beef scheme this year. Details of this scheme, will be made available once the ongoing approval process has been finalised.