Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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720. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the deadline for the submission of dung samples for faecal egg count testing as a part of the BEEP scheme is one month earlier in 2021 compared with 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56988/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The objective of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Suckler (BEEP - S) is to further increase economic and environmental efficiency in the suckler herd through better quality data on herd performance, supporting decision making on farm and support of best practice in welfare management. It is a clear example of my commitment to the suckler sector.

Applications were made via the Department's online application system at www.agfood.ie. In addition to the mandatory weighing requirement, participants had the choice of two additional animal welfare measures.

The first of these involves the meal feeding of calves as part of the weaning process or carrying out a vaccination programme in conjunction with the participants veterinary practitioner. The second optional measure was to submit samples to a participating laboratory for faecal testing.

The deadline for the submission of these samples was changed in 2021 to the 1st October 2021 rather than the 1st November 2020 as it was in the 2020 scheme.

As with any annual scheme, my Department engages with stakeholders to identify ways to improve the deliver of prompt and efficient payment to participating farmers. In 2020, some 1,300 farmers did not receive their full payment in 2020 on time as not all results were received from laboratories due to samples being submitted right up to the closing date of 1st November 2020.

In an effort to mitigate against that in 2021, laboratories put their own measures in place to encourage participating farmers to make their submissions earlier and my Department moved the deadline forward to help facilitate as many farmers as possible receiving their payment as scheduled in December 2021.

For 2020, some 20,326 expressed and interest in submitting samples as part of the scheme with some 14,686 subsequently doing so and receiving payment for the action. For 2021 that number has increased to 21,641 and to-date, with processing of samples received ongoing, some 16,257 samples have been recorded.

The 1st October deadline for 2021 was emphasised in the Terms and Conditions of the scheme and Press Releases when the scheme opened in March 2021. The date was also included in the approval letter that issued to all successful applicants for the scheme in 2021.

My Department also issued an SMS text to all BEEP S participants in July 2021 once again reminding them of the 1st October 2021 closing date.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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721. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has considered extending by one month the deadline for the submission of dung samples for faecal egg count testing as a part of the BEEP scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56989/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The objective of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Suckler (BEEP - S) is to further increase economic and environmental efficiency in the suckler herd through better quality data on herd performance, supporting decision making on farm and support of best practice in welfare management. It is a clear example of my commitment to the suckler sector.

Applications were made via my Department's online application system at www.agfood.ie. In addition to the mandatory weighing requirement, participants had the choice of two additional animal welfare measures. The first of these involves the meal feeding of calves as part of the weaning process or carrying out a vaccination programme in conjunction with the participants veterinary practitioner. The second optional measure was to submit samples to a participating laboratory for faecal testing.

The 1st October deadline for 2021 was emphasised in the Terms and Conditions of the scheme and Press Releases when the scheme opened in March 2021. The date was also included in the approval letter that issued to all successful applicants for the scheme in 2021. My Department also issued an SMS text to all BEEP-S participants in July 2021 once again reminding them of the 1st October 2021 closing date.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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722. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has given consideration to reducing the number of dung samples for faecal egg count testing as a part of the BEEP scheme in order to prevent unnecessary duplicate sampling and testing for farmers who have fewer than ten cattle; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56990/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The objective of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme - Suckler (BEEP-S) is to further increase economic and environmental efficiency in the suckler herd through better quality data on herd performance, supporting decision making on farm and support of best practice in welfare management. It is a clear example of my commitment to the suckler sector.

Applications were made via my Department's online application system at www.agfood.ie. In addition to the mandatory weighing requirement, participants had the choice of two additional animal welfare measures.

The first of these involves the meal feeding of calves as part of the weaning process or carrying out a vaccination programme in conjunction with the participants veterinary practitioner. The second optional measure was to submit samples to a participating laboratory for faecal testing.

In respect of the faecal testing measure Annex 4 of the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme state:

"Cows should be placed in a clean pen. Leave them undisturbed for a couple of hours or until such time that a number of faecal deposits have been observed. If you have ten eligible cows, all must be sampled; if you have 5 eligible cows, you still must submit 10 samples as the lab cannot otherwise verify that you have met the conditions of scheme.

Using gloves, collect faecal samples from at least 10 different fresh faecal deposits and place them in 10 separate containers (You must collect at least a heaped teaspoonful of faeces)."

Samples are not taken from individual animals, tag numbers are not requested and the number of samples is not linked to the size of the herd. This standard requirement to take ten samples across the pen is to ensure an effective and accurate sample is taken. This facilitates the use of standard sampling kits across all the herds in the scheme.