Ethical Farming Ireland (EFI) has responded to “concerning” statements from MEP Billy Kelleher and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) against proposals on animal transport ahead of European Parliament debate and vote.
The organisation said that both the MEP and the ICSA president, Dermot Kelleher, are “ignoring the will of the public and ignoring science”.
This response follows the ICSA’s call for all Irish MEPs to “defeat” the proposals on animal transport and MEP Kelleher’s announced plan to build a majority against the proposals.
The debate and vote on proposed rules by the European Parliament Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport (ANIT) is expected to take place in Strasbourg next week between January 17 and January 20.
Reacting to recently the published ICSA and MEP statements, EFI said:
“The alarmist reaction to the vote by the MEP along with the ICSA president, shows a lack of awareness of public opinion, as well as a lack of understanding of the role that live export actually plays in our economy.
“We must also acknowledge that we are in a climate crisis and must completely rethink how we produce food, including how it is transported,” EFI continued.
The organisation said it welcomes the ANIT proposals which aim to ban the transport of pregnant animals in the last third of gestation; a maximum journey time of two hours for unweaned animals over 35 days; and a complete ban for unweaned animals under 35 days.
Economic role of live exports
EFI claims that “there will be a glut of unwanted male dairy calves”. Around 80% of males calves, are put into the beef sector while a small number are sent to slaughter and only around 145,000 are exported, according to EFI.
“Dairy farmers are acknowledging that they cannot continue to rely on calf export as an outlet for male calves,” the group said.
Total live cattle exports were worth €133 million in 2020, with short export journeys to Northern Ireland accounting for €93 million, according to EFI.
“That leaves €40 million, and calf export will have been worth a fraction of that,” the organisation claims.
EFI furthermore said that considering beef export value of €4.2 billion in 2020, calf export contributes little to the economy, with pregnant animals even less.
“The handful of exporters in the industry will be impacted and must be compensated, during a just transition. That is all,” EFI stated.
Live exports do not impact factory prices as the “volumes exported are comparatively low”, since around 35,000 cattle are slaughtered every single week in Ireland, according to the group.
Animal welfare issues
The group claims that the export of unweaned calves comes with severe animal issues, “with many becoming sick or dying” during long journeys with no feed.
Defending ANIT’s proposals, the group further said that pregnant cows should not be transported across long distances during the third trimester as the risk of giving birth during transit is “too big”.
“Heavily pregnant animals are also more susceptible to stress, hunger, thirst and fatigue, as well as extreme temperatures,” the group continued.
“It is just not possible to export calves from Ireland without causing undue suffering and harm.”
The organisation considers Ireland’s disadvantage as an island compared to other member states, however added that this “is no excuse for animal cruelty”.
“I trust that our MEPs will do the right thing when the vote takes place next week. I trust that they will listen to facts, rather than alarmist sentiment,” EFI concluded.