We have had a few Dairy calves threads looking at the issues regarding what are a byproduct of the dairy system. Angus Woods has an article in today's FI
In 2024 there will be a number of changes regarding there welfare, movement and slaughter.
Minimum slaughter age will increase to eight weeks of age. Minimum age for movement from the farm of birth will be at least 28 days as this will be legislated by the European Parliament early next year. However in the rules passed last spring there was a limit of two hours travel time for unweaned calves. This in reality will mean calves under six weeks can not be moved beyond 100 miles and technically should prohibit export before that age.
This will change the landscape regarding what happens at dairy farm level especially. Dairy farmers will be responsible for the young calf until a minimum of 4 weeks and probably for 6-8 weeks for calves that were traditionally exported or slaughtered.
This probably changes the economics of the way a number of dairy farms looked at calves. They were considered a cost, and the quicker the calf exited the farm the better. Every day he spend drinking milk was a cost. If he impacted the ability of a cow to produce milk this was considered a negative. It was easier to manage the herd from a labour point of view by using low beef genetic merit bulls.
Now with the necessity to keep calves longer these defects will be one more visible poor genetic quality calves will be more noticeable in the mart. At 4+ weeks of age calves not properly reared (not given adequate clostrum etc) will be more visible.
In AW's article he mentioned that 61% of people who reared calves give it up and ate unwilling to return. Add to this the fact that calf rearing costs are rising ( especially milk powder, straw and calf rations).
The change in rules may change that. Taking a 4-6 week old calf to rear compared a 10-18 day old is a different proposition. Marts will probably have to bring in a minimum weight to prevent dumping by some dairy farmers of unviable calves.
Some dairy farmers will need to put in substantially extra calf rearing facilities. Calf rearers can now take January and a lot of February off. Calf numbers will now not start to come into marts until mid February and the glut will move to late March ( this will aid rearers as calves will be within 10-14 days of going outside as well by this time of year).
Farmers that traditionally slaughtered calves will now have to feed them for eight weeks and maybe longer if there is a backup at slaughter plant. The Department will probably be watching calf death numbers on dairy farms to prevent any incident that could put the industry at risk
So where to from here. Will this change the economics of the way dairy farmers look at a calf.ost calves at 6-8 weeks will have some value. With poorer quality more visible by size( poorer weight gain over 30-40 days as opposed to 10-18) this may also discourage early registration.
If there is attempts to circumvent the rules I imagine the department and government will be willing to modify the rules to prevent this.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w7.vanillicon.com/v2/73a050bf46afce149fa8c6da703ec9d2.svg)
