Heydon opens new €22 million National Sheep Welfare Scheme
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has announced the opening of the 2025 National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS) for applications.
The 2025 NSWS, which has a budget of €22 million, is a continuation and expansion of a similar scheme that operated in 2024.
Participants in the 2025 NSWS will be required to complete three actions to receive the full payment of €13 per ewe.
Scheme applications, which must be submitted before 23:59p.m on May 15, 2025, can be made by a farmer or an approved Farm Advisory Services (FAS) advisor acting on their behalf, using the online Agfood facility.
The scheme consists of five possible measures grouped into two categories (one containing a choice of mandatory actions and one containing a choice of voluntary actions) as shown in the table below:
| Category A (mandatory actions) | Category B (voluntary actions) |
|---|---|
| Shearing | Foot bathing of breeding ewes |
| Body condition scoring of ewes with appropriate follow-on management | Plunge dipping to control external parasites |
| Clostridial vaccination of ewes (or lambs if ewes are already vaccinated) |
Category A actions are each worth €4 per breeding ewe, from which applicants must select two of the three available options.
Category B actions are each worth €5 per breeding ewe, from which applicants must select one of the two available options.
Participants must complete two Category A actions and one Category B action in order to claim the full €13 payment per breeding ewe, Minister Heydon outlined.
Farmers joining the 2025 NSWS must indicate at application stage which options they intend to carry out by selecting either two Category A actions worth €8/ewe; or selecting two Category A actions and one Category B action worth €13/ewe.
Actions selected at application stage must be completed by October 17. However, applicants who are unable to complete their chosen actions by that date will have an option to choose a later date of November 28, 2025 for completion of all selected actions, but they will not be paid until January 2026 at the earliest.
Where a farmer wishes to select the later completion date, they must choose this option when applying for the scheme.
The maximum number of breeding ewes eligible for payment under the scheme will be based on the average of the three sheep census returns for eligible breeding ewes declared by the applicant for the years 2022 to 2024.
Where the 2024 census return is higher than the average presented, the farmer or FAS advisor can overwrite the average and claim up to the 2024 number if they so wish.
Participants must carry out their chosen actions on whatever number of eligible breeding ewes they select at application stage.
Commenting on the new scheme, Minister Heydon said: “The scheme being launched today builds on the 2024 scheme. It allows farmers to carry out an additional action to maximise their scheme payments.
"The increased scheme funding provided in Budget 2025 gives sheep farmers an opportunity to drawdown €13 per eligible ewe, bringing targeted payments to €25 per ewe in 2025 when combined with the Sheep Improvement Scheme.
"The overall level of support is now two and half times greater than the payment in 2022 and is the highest payment rate ever provided to enhance animal health and welfare in our vitally important sheep sector," Minister Heydon said.
He added: “The scheme launched today is separate from, but complements, the multi-annual Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) funded under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan until 2027. The SIS supports farmers carrying out actions that improve animal health and welfare on their sheep enterprises with a budget allocation of €100 million.
"Today’s scheme consists of straightforward measures that will encourage uptake and are applicable to all types of sheep enterprises.
"It is practical to implement on all sheep enterprises regardless of flock size or production system, including those not currently participating in the existing Sheep Improvement Scheme," the minister said.
