Dairy Calves 2024

Your attitude is amazing! I thought it was a perfectly reasonable letter and fully support the sentiments expressed in it. All options must be given consideration in the light of the carbon reduction targets.

In the first instance it is completely immaterial to a bovine when it is killed, as that is the end for them all ultimately. There is a scheme about to be introduced by the Govt to reduce the slaughter age of cattle to less than 24 months. Where is the justification for drawing any line anywhere between 0 months and 24 or 36 or 44 or 80 months? When the end result is the same. Calf disposal is by far the easiest route to the 25% target; if they want that target achieved we must be allowed the means.

I have previously stated that I personally have no issue with unwanted/financially non viable dairy bull calves been slaughtered in DAFM approved facilities however I accept that this is not how the majority of people feel. The social license that we have as farmers is no longer willing to tolerate the practice and I reckon any attempt to link it with carbon reduction/climate change will be met with derision.

Assuming that you are not trolling , why not stop producing a worthless calf if you are so concerned about reducing GHG s

Big problems coming down the road I reckon. Normally autumn calves make 80/100 but I'm hearing at marts the prices are bad? Anyone seeing this? If your getting 40 for an autumn calf, the spring ones won't be worth 5 euro. Looks like with high rentals and high feed prices , farmers who rear calves are disappearing.

i won’t be rearing calves next year anyway reared calves the last good few years the calves I get are harder reared every year I get them of the 1 farmer every year he keeps getting biggger calves are not as well looks after they all get beastings but he has not them time to do as good a job and the calf shed get full so they have to go and another issue is AI the cows he has now are short gestation them selves and using short gestation on them they all calving before there time calves not as hardy I think anyway justice my thoughts

Your so far out of touch with the new reality of what the powers that be are pushing for its nearly laughable. They would prefer us to have to keep our calves to slaughter as for grassland management..... that's only going one way........... backwards I'm afraid

My post was supposed to be linked to grass post bass.....sorry I thought it was. Anyways I totally agree that it's a small cohort of farmers have their heads in the sand .......I find the idea of bobbying calves that a lot of aren't looked after properly before hand repulsive. It's not the way I was brought up.

The alternative to calf slaughter is a whole list of boring, costly, tiresome, pernickety regulations with the familiar enforcement mechanisms.

Idiotic of the editor to let it go to print …and jaysus the lad that wrote it …scary to think we’ve people with that attitude in the industry

As I said above I think it's a perfectly reasonable letter and would be fully supportive of the course of action advocated. The 25% target changes everything and novel suggestions must be engaged with. Putting your head in the sand may be (more) idiotic than the letter!