The new need for Irish farmers to sign up for Bord Bia’s Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS) so they can get government subsidies, has caused a bottleneck in the payment system.

Currently, farmers hoping to become 'assured' have a six to eight-week waiting time to get accredited. The backlog is being blamed on the time it is taking for assessors to visit farms to conduct the required audits in person.

In recent weeks, there have been a flood of applicants as the new Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) – which will pay direct support to beef farmers – required membership of SBLAS, a similar scheme to Scotland’s QMS beef assurance. Applications for the new coupled support scheme SCEP are open until May 22 and claimants will need to need to be farm assured (SBLAS) by October 16, 2023

The SCEP is the replacement for the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) which started in 2015 and had 24,000 suckler farmers participating and did not require farm assurance.

The farm assured requirement had caused some unhappiness amongst farmers, particularly for suckler store producers. Some complained about the additional record keeping involved, along with the on-farm Bord Bia audit.

The main additional requirement, above basic cross compliance, is keeping records of their own farm feeds and an animal health plan.

At inspection, auditors will look at housing facilities, animal handling facilities, health and safety aspects of the farm, animal tag check (random), farm signage, the farm chemical store, animal remedies store, footwear disinfection point, farm safety statement and first aid kit, before inspectors move on to paperwork and records.

However, the surge in applications for farm assurance showed farmers were willing to jump through the hoops to get access to SCEP. This pays out to farmers based on a historic number of calves born on the farm and eligible hectares with payments front-loaded to the first 15 ha. A typical 20-cow suckler herd will get around €3000 (£2650).

Getting access to the money is a lot more complicated that the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS). Applicants must also attend a training course and an animal handling course before November 15, 2024.

There is a huge list of breeding values which must be recorded in the herd. Data is needed on calf sire; calving ease; birth size; calf vigour; calf docility; dam docility; dam milk-ability; dam mothering ability; dam feet and legs; dam teat score; dam udder score; and dam departure reason.

The scheme requirements also stretch to which sires were allowed to be used on farm. In year one and two of the scheme, 80% of the calves must be sired by a four/five star sire accredited by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). This target increases to 85% in year three and four, before climbing to 90% in year five.

Meanwhile, half of the dams on in the scheme must be four or five star in year one and two. Again, like the sires, progression is required with this target climbing to 65% in year three and four and further increasing to 75% in year five.

In addition to the replacement strategy, to be eligible for payment, successful applicants must weigh 70% of the animals on the holding annually. Furthermore, at least 70% of calves must be genotyped annually over the duration of the programme.