Farmers participating in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) who fail to meet scheme requirements could be faced with fines of up to 140% of the payment. Chris Daly from ICBF outlined the fines when he was speaking at a Teagasc beef seminar in Kilkenny last Thursday night.

One of the key requirements of the scheme is to have 50% of the reference number of females genotyped 4- or 5-star by 31 October 2020. Genotyped animals must be born before 30 June 2019 to be eligible. Not hitting the target would mean no payment would issue to participants for the 2020 scheme year and a further 40% fine would be recouped from other schemes like the BPS or ANC scheme.

Checking eligibility

He urged farmers to keep checking the ICBF website to get updates on their BDGP eligibility. There are genetic evaluation updates every two months so farmers will have ample opportunity to genotype heifers/cows between now and 31 October.

Daly also offered some advice to farmers who are going to apply for the new BEEP scheme in 2020. While the scheme hasn’t opened yet there have been questions around farmers selling autumn-born calves that haven’t been weighed for the 2020 scheme. The advice is to weigh both the calf and cow on the same day.

“While it won’t guarantee payment, it’s better to have the weights recorded if there are any questions asked later on,” he said.