THE government’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme (DBWS) has been reopened for new applicants.
The DBWS has a budget of €25 million over four years (2024 – 2027) and is co-funded by the European Union as part of the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon (FG) said the reopening of the scheme will support ‘greater integration of the dairy and beef herds to improve the quality, welfare and viability of male calves from dairy herds’.
The DBWS is a breeding measure providing support to dairy farmers to improve the animal health and welfare of the national dairy herd by using genetically superior beef sires for breeding dairy beef calves.
Participants are required to use AI straws or stock bulls with a minimum rating of three stars on the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) Dairy Beef Index (DBI) and on the beef sub-index of the DBI.
This is the second year of the scheme as part of the CAP Strategic Plan with payments of €4.73 million issued last month to 7,612 farmers who applied to participate in the scheme in 2024.
Applicants to the scheme in 2024, do not need to reapply to the scheme as their application will automatically roll over to 2025.
Farmers who satisfy the scheme requirements will receive a payment of €20 per eligible calf up to a maximum of 50 calves per holding.
New applicants, or the FAS advisor authorised to act on their behalf, can submit their application to the CSP Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme online through Agfood.ie until 11.59pm on May 15th.
