Important October dates for county Longford suckler farmers to take note of
The 2025 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS) objective is to increase economic efficiency
By Alan O'Brien Drystock
Advisor Teagasc, Castlerea
Beef Welfare Scheme
The objective of the 2025 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS) is to further increase the economic efficiency of and enhance animal health and husbandry on suckler farms.
It consists of both mandatory actions in the form of meal feeding to weanlings pre and post weaning and optional actions including vaccinating for clostridial diseases and / or calf pneumonia and faecal testing or forage testing.
In relation to faecal testing and silage testing, farmers participating in the scheme are reminded of an important October date.
If a farmer has opted for faecal sampling, they must have the test kits purchased no later than 13th October 2025 and similarly if they have opted for forage testing, they must have sample kits purchased no later than 13th October 2025.
SCEP
Farmers who are enrolled in the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) October 31st deadline is crucial for meeting requirements for eligible females.
For the 2025 SCEP year, an eligible female must be at least 16 months old by this date and have a four- or five-star rating on the Replacement Index and be genotyped.
If you’re a farmer with surplus 4 or 5-star genotyped Replacement Index heifers, or you’re looking to purchase eligible heifers, ICBF in collaboration with DAFM and ICOS is co-ordinating SCEP eligible heifer sales at marts throughout October.
These heifers will be sold in a special section within regular mart sales. Check www.ICBF.com for sale dates.
Teagasc provides a Local Advisory and Education service to farmers.
They have offices based in Roscommon Town (Tel: 090 6626166), Castlerea (Tel: 094 9620160) and Longford Town (Tel: 043 3341021), You can find us on Facebook @Teagasc roscommonlongford, Instagram @teagasc.rnld and X @teagascRNLD. Email; RoscommonLongford [email protected]