SCEP or Sceptical

Does anyone know how far Bord Bia go back during the inspection?

Have a bit of homework to do here in order to get the paperwork right for a Bord Bia inspection?

would the remedies completed say from January 2021 up to date be sufficient?

They had a fella on the FJ podcast from bord bia and he said they only require paperwork for the previous 6 months

You are paid for the training. It’s part of the scheme which you sign up knowing you have to do it.

Would it better if they dropped the payment per cow by 10 euros and then said you get 158 quid for the days training.

I have no problem with having to do the training its part of the hoops for the scheme. I have no problem with having to be in Bord Bia, can't really get cattle into the factory to be slaughtered without it anyway. Its worth €60 - €80 on cattle killed.

But the star rating are the catch, they slide they showed even proved it, there was little or no difference between what was achieved for weanlins from 1 star or 5 star dams. Its a false system, if a cow is genotyped 5 star but then falls back over time to a 2 star she is still eligible once she stays in your herd but if you sell her she isn't eligible for the new owner. That just doesn't make any sense to me.

Watched the webinar, like a lot of people have said when the speaker from icbf mentioned that after all the data gathered over the previous years that 50% of the €1000 weanling come from 4 or 5 star cows, I couldn't believe what I was hearing meaning that the other 50% came from what all these experts consider the dregs of the suckler herd. You actually couldn't make it up.

Icbf in particular is making simple situations very complicated just to keep plenty work on there desks and justify their jobs while the suckler farmer fools around with stupid and aimless objectives just to draw down the grant which really cannot be done without in Suckler farming.

We're gonna be reducing numbers year on year. The 50% 4/5 star for eligible females won't be a major problem but it will as years go by and the ratio increases.

Does anyone know can you reset the reference no. annually or are you stuck with the no. you pick now?

I'm loathe to leave money behind but not keen on being tied to a higher no. of sucklers than I'd like as well as struggling with the stars.

It's in Agfood where you apply. It shows your reference numbers and best years. You can set a number then based on what you want

Yeah, if your programme reference no is 20 and you pick 20 as your 2023 reference no then you need to calve at least 10 cows, have 14 animals for genotyping and have at least 10 four/five star genotyped cows/heifers over 16 months in October. You could have 30 cows now but you only get paid on 20.

Yeah, I think so. You have to calve at least 50% of the reference no you put in each year afaik.

Just a follow up on this as I went to the mart last week with 2 weanlings. Both wintered out and no meal.

First lad off a 4 star cow - nice weanling - 290 kg and made €890. Nothing special, price a little disappointing if anything.

The second lad was lighter and out of a 2 star cow. 270kg. Made €1,120. As good a weanling as you'd see any day even if I do say so myself!

So, I'm still torn between joining the scheme but having to replace half of the cows to his the star requirement or just concentrate on the cows that are returning the best weanlings irrespective of stars!! (or getting rid of them altogether which is what I was doing before I got the good price for the second lad cause I was having a **** week with them!!!).

That’s something my advisor emphasized. It’s not the end of the world with SCEP if you get a penalty or two and lose some money if you still get most of it, you would need to look at how the penalties are applied and see if the scheme still suits you. The penalties do get a bit more severe as the scheme progresses tho.

I think what this highlights clearly is that anyone with a herd of good cows producing good weanlings would be mad to join. You'll get the value of the grant and more when you sell the good calf, and no hoops to jump through. Plus whatever value you put on looking at or working with quality stock.

No reason why good cows can’t be 5 star