Irish authorities have announced plans to transport Irish weaned calves from Ireland to other EU destinations starting in May, in an effort to deal with the growing discomfort over the duration of trips made by thousands of animals sent each year to the European continent. .
The Irish government has been subjected to continuous scrutiny over exports of live calves and the decision to experiment with flights, which will significantly reduce travel time, comes as a European Parliament committee of inquiry examines alleged failures across Europe compliance with the rules for the protection of transported animals.
Ireland’s 1.6 million dairy herd is constantly expanding and the country is struggling with an increasing number of calves born each spring. About 750,000 male calves are born each year. Most are sold to the domestic beef sector, but approximately 30,000 are slaughtered, while 200,000 are destined for the export of live animals by road and sea for the production of veal on the continent.
It is the fate of these 200,000 calves – some transported at 14 days of age – that is a growing concern for Irish authorities, amid constant criticism from animal welfare activists who claim that the rules governing the transport of calves are routinely disrespected. They say that Irish calves have gone through “nightmare trips” without access to water or food.
The Dutch government continued to push for an EU-wide ban on travel of more than eight hours for all non-weaned animals. The Guardian learned that the Dutch agriculture minister had told the country’s calf industry that it should “drastically reduce and eventually stop” all imports of calves from distant farms. The Netherlands is an important export market for Irish weaned calves.
Groups of farmers welcomed the air test. “We want to see calves flying out of this country,” Irish Farmers Association President Tim Cullinan told the Irish parliament in December. He said that while the cost of flying is twice that of shipping, flights would also allow the industry to reach new markets. But some activists are strongly opposed to the idea.
“Flying calves look horrible,” said Caroline Rowley of Ethical Farming Ireland, a non-profit organization she founded in 2019. “I don’t understand the logistics. It will still be a long journey to get to the airport and unload calves from trucks in corrals. It is noisy on the plane – there are changes in air pressure and turbulence. Flying them is to avoid the fundamental problem: we are producing a lot of animals ”.
Ireland fears EU ban on calf exports
The search for new markets cited by producers – inside and outside Europe – is now more urgent because Dutch Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten is putting pressure on the calf industry to stop buying long-traveling calves.
“We have concerns about the welfare of these vulnerable animals during these long journeys,” said its spokesman, Raoel Koole. “The veal industry in the Netherlands should not be dependent on these imports.”
Teagasc, the Irish state agency for agri-food research, is leading the project to take calves out of the country and the first plane is estimated to board in May. The 1.2 million euros (£ 1 million) publicly funded project, called “Moove”, will include an assessment of the calf’s well-being as animals are transported on airplanes and rafts, and will also examine the potential of slow-release nutrition that can mimic food for a long time.
The Irish government’s expansion plan for 2010 encouraged farmers to cultivate and intensify their dairy companies. Although the average price paid to farmers for milk is close to the bottom of the international league and hasn’t changed much in relative terms for more than two decades, many parts of the dairy industry have grown in the past decade and the size of the herd and milk production grew soared.
But officials have faced criticism for an apparent lack of supervision over the welfare of calves, and the Moove project is seen as a way to rebalance data shortages.
“We want to establish a baseline on welfare compared to the welfare of calves that would not be traveling,” said Pat Dillon, who runs Teagasc’s animal research center in Fermoy, County Cork, and is overseeing the five-year project.
EU law states that calves must not travel more than eight hours and, while this is suitable for the calf industry in continental Europe, traveling from Ireland takes much longer.
An exemption was written into EU law in 2005. Calves exported from Ireland must rest for 12 hours after landing at the port of destination – in the case of Ireland, usually Cherbourg, France. This still leaves the problem of feeding them along the way, and welfare groups argue that because the journey is so long, the calves are left without enough food for long periods, breaking the law.
Calves ‘flooding’ the market in spring
The Teagasc dairy model further complicates the problem. The compact system of calving in the spring means that an excess of calves is born in a period of six to eight weeks, from February to April. Farmers are advised to practice the so-called “quick delivery”, in which the children are removed from their mothers an hour after birth. They are also instructed to sell bull calves “as soon as possible”. This sudden wave of thousands of calves can bring prices down; in 2019, bull calves reportedly sold for less than 50 cents (43p) each.
This caused a headache for live exporters. “The six-week calving pattern is flooding the market,” said John Hallissey, secretary of the Irish Association of Livestock Exporters. “There are a lot of calves coming at the same time – if this period were extended, it would help the situation. Ideally, calves should be a little older and stronger to make the journey – the best environment for the calf to grow is to be fed new milk on the farm of origin for 21 days. “
Hallissey said it is in the interests of exporters that the calves arrive at their destination in good condition. “That’s what we get paid for,” he said. “Calves travel well on the road and are being treated well.”
Speaking to the European Parliament’s committee of inquiry in February, Rob Doyle, a civil servant in the Irish Department of Agriculture, admitted that, while there are gaps in scientific knowledge regarding the transport of live animals, the argument about travel times should be about data, not distance.
“It is vital that this debate is based on objective evidence and scientific research, rather than being conducted around subjective opinions on social media,” he said. “The ban on the export of live animals would have consequences that would require significant management on Irish farms.”
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