What is the Suckler Cow (SC) Scheme?

Farm businesses that wish to opt into this Scheme must also read the terms and conditions. To read the Terms and Conditions please see relevant section sc-scheme-terms-and-conditions

The Scheme is a payment support scheme for beef farmers in Northern Ireland and forms part of the Beef Sustainability Package within the Sustainable Agriculture Programme.  The Scheme commenced on 1 April 2025 and each Scheme year will run from 1 April to 31 March each year.

The Scheme aims to encourage farm businesses to improve breeding management practices in suckler cow production, to increase the percentage of eligible calving events within the Northern Ireland suckler cow herd that achieve a reduced age at first calving (AFC) and a reduced calving interval (CI) over a four-year phased implementation period.  A reduction in the age of heifers at the time of their first calving and shorter intervals between calving events of suckler cows provide environmental benefits through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as well as helping improve overall farm productivity and efficiency.

To be eligible for the Suckler Cow Scheme, farm businesses must have claimed and be eligible for the Farm Sustainability Transition Payment in 2025 and the Farm Sustainability Payment from 2026 onwards.

Eligible farm businesses must opt in to the Suckler Cow Scheme to receive payment and can do so from 1 April 2025 via the DAERA website at  Beef Sustainability Package. Farm businesses can opt in to the Scheme at any time. However, farm businesses must have opted in between 1 April and 31 March to receive a payment for that Scheme year onwards.

A farm business only needs to opt in once for the Scheme from 1 April 2025.  If a farm business has opted in, it will receive a payment for eligible calving events each year thereafter, provided all eligibility criteria have been met in that Scheme year.  If a farm business opts in and does not have any eligible calving events in that Scheme year, no penalties will apply.

Payments for each Scheme year will be issued in the following Scheme year.

Eligible farm businesses will receive a payment for each first calving event and each subsequent calving event that is within the age at first calving target or calving interval target for the relevant Scheme year and provided all other eligibility criteria have been met.  For more information on targets please see relevant section Am I eligible for SC Scheme payment? 

We will use information that we hold (mainly on the Northern Ireland Farm Animal Information System – NIFAIS) to decide if your calving events are eligible for Scheme payments.

A Northern Ireland Quantitative Limit (NI QL) on the maximum number of calving events per annum that can receive payment is set at 222,000 calving events.

If, in any Scheme year, the total number of calving events eligible for payment exceeds the NI QL, a linear reduction will be applied at a farm level on the number of calving events for which a farm business can receive payment, i.e. on a pro-rata basis.

Policy Context

The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union provided Northern Ireland with a unique opportunity to redefine its agricultural policy for the first time in almost 50 years, with the aim of developing a framework that is better suited to local needs and one that will underpin long term sustainability within the agri-food industry.

Following a public consultation on proposals for future agricultural policy, the Future Agricultural Policy Decisions for Northern Ireland were published in March 2022.

The decisions included the introduction of a Beef Sustainability Package.

The Suckler Cow Scheme forms part of the Beef Sustainability Package which is an integral part of the Sustainable Agriculture Programme. The Scheme seeks to reduce emissions and the carbon footprint by reducing the age at first calving of heifers and reducing the calving interval of suckler cows.

The Scheme provides a payment to farm businesses to reduce the age at first calving of heifers and to reduce the calving intervals of suckler cows.