The chairperson of ICMSA’s Livestock Committee, Michael O’Connell, has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food & Marine, Martin Heydon, to announce the details on the allocation of the additional €20 per head provided in Budget 2025 for the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme.
Mr O’Connell said that there was no time to lose in putting the details into the public realm and he hoped that common sense would prevail around the distribution of said funding.
“While the additional funding is small, it’s welcome, and it’s hugely important that the details around this extra payment – and who’ll receive it – are published quickly so that interested farmers can make informed decisions just as calf sales to hit peak levels in the coming weeks,” said the ICMSA chairperson.
The current payment under the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme is €20 per calf up to a maximum of 50 calves sired by beef bred bulls and born to dairy cows where the breeder of the calf receives the payment once within a number of eligible criteria parameters are met. ICMSA believes strongly that the additional €20 per calf should be targeted at ‘calf rearers’ whether that person is the breeder of that calf or not.
“Ireland has seen great progress in the last number of years regarding calf quality. Technologies such as sexed semen has reduced the need for use of excess dairy straws and that has resulted in a greater focus on producing quality beef-bred calves from the dairy herd. There is a strong demand for our calves in the domestic and international markets, but that potential is being hampered by the relative shortage of people willing to rear the calves – which is time consuming and expensive – and thus we need incentives for people rearing the calves.
“ICMSA believes that this additional payment needs to be made to the person doing that ‘rearing’ to acknowledge and reward the work and investment. This payment is not going to be a ‘make-or-break’ contribution to the rearer, but it could be the kickstart that is needed to bolster a worthwhile dairy calf to beef production system and underpin the viability of these systems,” said Mr O’Connell.
ICMSA was the original sponsoring organisation for a dairy calf-to-beef scheme advocating for many years for a proper, workable, and well-funded scheme that it believes places a variety of positive options in front of interested farmers. The Association has been critical of the lukewarm and underpowered scheme that was introduced and has repeatedly pointed out the potential of a properly funded and designed scheme, particularly in light of its innate carbon efficiency and the fact that over 60% of cattle slaughtered in Ireland now come from the dairy herd.
“There still so much to be done and we think the very first thing that needs to be announced is that this additional €20 per calf payment will be directed to the calf ‘rearer’ with minimum rules attached. That clarification needs to be announced as quickly as possible and allow farmers make informed decisions as calf sales ramp up,” concluded Mr O’Connell.
