Minister Heydon confirms details of new €28 million beef scheme for suckler farmers
- Published on: 22 April 2025
- Last updated on: 22 April 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon today announced that a new support scheme for the suckler beef sector will open in early August. The 2025 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS) has a budget of €28 million and will focus on practical measures to enhance animal health and husbandry on suckler farms.
Commenting on the early announcement, Minister Heydon stressed the importance he attaches to promoting and supporting suckler beef production:
“The 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme proved to be very popular among the target population with the budget allocation fully spent and over 23,000 farmers paid for participating in it. This year’s enhanced scheme retains the same measures from last year, but I have increased the overall budget by 40% and lifted the cap on eligible calves from 40 to 45 head. I have also introduced some additional optional measures. As a result, the maximum payment that a farmer can receive will rise from €2,000 to €3,375 for correctly completing three scheme actions. That’s an increase of 69% in the total maximum payable.”
Confirming that the scheme will open in early August, as it did in previous years, the Minister said that he is announcing the actions required in advance to give certainty and predictability:
“As with previous national schemes, eligible calves are those born to eligible suckler cows in the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. This year’s scheme will consist of three measures aimed at improving on-farm efficiency: namely a mandatory meal feeding action, an optional vaccination action for weanlings and a third optional action which can either be faecal egg testing or silage testing.”
Minister Heydon concluded:
“When coupled with the SCEP, participants in the 2025 BWS will be eligible to receive €225 per cow/calf pair for the first 22 pairs.”
Notes
Q: What are participants required to do to obtain a scheme payment?
There are three actions in the scheme:
- Action 1 - Meal Feeding pre-weaning and post-weaning is a mandatory action
- Action 2 - Vaccination is an optional action which participants (or their FAS advisors acting on their behalf) must select at application stage
- Action 3 - Faecal egg testing or silage testing are optional actions which must be selected at application stage
Q: What is the maximum payment available to participants who correctly complete all three actions?
| Payment per eligible calf |
|
Maximum payment per participant | ||||
| Action 1 – Meal Feeding (Mandatory) | €35 |
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| Action 2 – Vaccination (Optional) |
|
45 | €675 | |||
| Action 3 – Faecal Egg or Silage Testing (Optional) | €25 | 45 | €1,125 | |||
| Scheme Total | €75 | 45 | €3,375 |
Note: In the event of the scheme being oversubscribed, a reduction in the maximum number of animals eligible for payment may be applied on 1 or more actions.
Q: Where can I get more information?
Full details and terms and conditions of the scheme will be available on the department website in advance of the scheme opening.