The Calf Stakeholder Forum is working through a plan to stop the slaughter of young dairy bull calves from 2024, which could see processors refuse to collect milk from farmers engaged in the practice.

However, this plan is not yet a “done deal” according to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA).

Sources have said that the forum members are working on developing a ‘charter’ to ensure milk from farms that engage in the practice is not collected.

The forum includes a number of farm organisations, as well as the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS); Dairy Industry Ireland (DII); state bodies; and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

It is understood that, from next 2023, stakeholders will begin putting greater emphasis on this issue when dealing with farmers, with a “zero tolerance” approach to be taken from 2024.

This approach will also, Agriland understands, factor into Bord Bia’s quality assurance scheme for milk, the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS).

All of this is conditional on the members of the Calf Stakeholder Forum agreeing to the charter.

However, speaking this afternoon (Thursday, November 10), Pat McCormack, the president of the ICMSA, said that “several matters remain outstanding”.

Notwithstanding this, he acknowledged the need for proactive measure and options on the question of bull calves, and to move “steadily forward based on buy-in from all parties”.

“To be frank, in exactly the same way as every other group or organisation, farmers are entitled to resent the idea that solutions can be foisted on them. Certainly, ICMSA is under the impression that certain matters remain to be clarified,” McCormack added.

“We are not running away from the question, but we do think it’s always better to bring everyone with you.

“There’s a bit of work still to be done on this,” the ICMSA president commented.

In September, the department issued a letter to farmers urging them to move away from the slaughter of young male calves.

The letter was sent in conjunction with the Calf Stakeholder Forum.

Farmers have been asked to find new markets for these calves and stop the practice of sending calves for slaughter.

In a statement to Agriland at the time, the department had said that the forum “had been discussing the issue of a very small minority of dairy farmers routinely sending young male calves for slaughter”.