It has been outlined by a Teagasc dairy expert that “there is no relationship between calf mortality and calf price”.

Speaking at a meeting of the Irish Livestock Stakeholders’ Association today, Monday, November 18, in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, Teagasc’s head of the livestock systems and dairy enterprises, Padraig French, explained: “There is a view that a calf that’s worth nothing will not be looked after on dairy farms.”

French stressed: “There’s absolutely no evidence of that.

If you look at calf mortality as an indicator of calf welfare on Irish farms, this year [2019] is the lowest it’s been in the last 10 years.

The Teagasc expert explained that calf mortality on Irish dairy farms in 2019 stands at “about 4.5% if you include the calves that die at birth and die in the first six weeks of life”.

“If you compare that to any other dairy industry in the world, we are very, very low. We have very low calf mortality which is a very good indicator of calf welfare,” he stressed.

Continuing, French moved to clarify speculation on the dairy expansion’s effect on calf mortality.

He explained: “As we expanded the dairy herd, the mortality did not go up.

There was this anecdote going around that as farms got bigger, calf mortality went up. That is not the case. Bigger farms do not have higher calf mortality.

Concluding, he noted that next spring, “there are probably three outlets for calves from dairy farms”.

He noted: “They are: rearing on existing dairy farms; live export and processing for veal. This year, 27,000 calves will be processed for veal.”