SCEP and dairy beef weighing deadlines approach
Farmers enrolled in either the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) or National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme are reminded of a key deadline for the submission of weight data.
Within SCEP, farmers are required to complete a number of actions, one of which is the weighing of cow and calf pairs on your farm. Participants must weigh at least 80% of eligible animals born on the holding of the yearly reference number in each scheme year, and their dams, and submit the weights to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). This measure alone is worth 20% of your SCEP payment.
Some key SCEP weighing requirements:
- Each live calf must be unweaned and weighed with its dam on the applicants holding on the same day,
- Where a calf dies before five months of age or its dam, this must be recorded on AIM and the 80% does not include such a pair,
- All calves being submitted for weighing must have been born in the herd within each scheme year,
- All calves being submitted for weighing must be eligible for the scheme. They must be out a suckler dam and sired by a beef bull,
- All calves being submitted for weighing must be in the ownership and possession of the applicant since birth and maintained on the holding,
- The calf must be a minimum of 50 days old before it is eligible to be weighed.
Weights should be submitted within seven days of weighing and no later than 1 November annually. These weights can be submitted online to ICBF or posted to ICBF if recorded in paper format.
National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme
Through the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme, participants will be required to weigh eligible calves and submit weight data to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). These weights must be submitted before 17:30 on November 1, 2025.
To be eligible, these calves must be:
- A male calf of a dairy breed and/or a male or female calf of a beef breed sire born to a dairy breed dam,
- At least 12 weeks of age at the time of weighing and has been registered on the holding s/he is being weighed on for a minimum of 10 days prior to the date of weighing,
- In the applicant’s herd for at least 10 days before weighing,
- Born between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025.
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. For this scheme, farmers should note that they will only be paid on the number of calves in respect of which they submit liveweight data.
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