Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has moved to allay fears that many farmers with autumn-born weanlings will be ineligible for the 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS).

Minister McConalogue said farmers who sold weanlings are still eligible for the scheme’s two actions - vaccination and meal feeding - if they were complete before the sale of the animals.

The Minister said he has adjusted this iteration of the scheme compared with previous ones.

There is now no penalty applied to the meal feeding action in the event of a farmer not applying for the vaccination measure.

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“In the cases where calves were not vaccinated, they will not qualify for the €15, but the farmer remains eligible for the meal feeding payment, which makes up €35 of the €50 payment per animal.

“This follows the same pattern as previous schemes, including last year’s BWS. Where the scheme does differ however, is that I have made an adjustment so that there is no penalty applied to the meal feeding in the event of a farmer not applying for the second measure,” he said.

Minister McConalogue said all suckler farmers with eligible suckler cows that produced an eligible calf from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 are eligible to apply for this year’s BWS.

Irish Farmers’ Association livestock chair Declan Hanrahan had highlighted that farmers with autumn-born weanlings have been “effectively frozen out” of the scheme, as these calves had already been sold.

He called for this to be addressed before the BWS opens in early August.