The Irish Farmers Association has welcomed the re-opening of the Beef Data and Genomics Scheme, announced by Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed.
The measure will mean that farmers can get €95 per cow on the first 10 cows and €80 per cow thereafter.
IFA National Livestock Chairman, Angus Woods, said that the scheme is very important to support the suckler cow herd.
There is also potential to get a further 5,000 farmers into the scheme on top of the 24,500 farmers who currently benefit from it.
According to a study, conducted by former UCD Professor of Agricultural Economics, Alan Renwick, for every €1 invested in the beef sector, €4 is returned to the Irish economy.
The scheme is open for applications from tomorrow Wednesday April 19th with a closing date of May 8th.
All farmers who have not applied under the existing BDGP1 scheme are eligible to apply.
