A “total revamp” of the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme is needed as part of a solution to the issue of dairy bull calf welfare, according to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA).
Pat McCormack, the association’s president, called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to “accept” that the scheme “has to be refunded, re-energised and redesigned”.
Speaking this afternoon (Tuesday, July 18), McCormack said that, if this was done, the scheme could play a “potentially decisive part” in developing a profitable and sustainable trade for bull calves.
He commented that the minister should be wiling to look at the ICMSA’s proposed redesign of the scheme in light of criticism the dairy sector has seen since the airing of an RTÉ Investigates programme. McCormack said “much” of this criticism was justified.
However, he added he was “no longer willing to sit there and take lectures from commentators, many of whom have little practical knowledge of the sector and can barely disguise their animosity towards commercial farming and their ambition to end our sectors and livelihoods”.
McCormack outlined some of the key principles on which the ICMSA bases it’s desired version of a Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme.
One of these, he said, was that current beef production systems are not leaving an adequate return for the farmer.
“Current alternative farm systems available to these farmers are long-term land leasing and forestry. Both options are very permanent. ICMSA’s proposed scheme would provide farmers with an option that still involves rearing livestock.”
According to McCormack, dairy beef “has been shown” to be marginally more profitable than other beef systems.
McCormack also outlined what he said would be “obvious and understandable” terms and conditions, as follows:
- The scheme would be open to all livestock farmers, with agents and feedlots being excluded;
- Farmers that apply to the scheme would rear calves from the dairy herd;
- All male calves, and female calves with a beef sire, would be eligible for the scheme;
- Calves would be less than six weeks of age at the time of purchase;
- An initial payment of €75 could be drawn down by the farmer once the animal is weighed, between six and 10 months;
- A second payment of €75 could be drawn down after the animal is slaughtered;
- Steers would be slaughtered within 30 months and heifers would be slaughtered within 24 months;
- Farmers would only avail of the scheme on a maximum of 100 calves per year.
“While this [scheme] isn’t the whole answer, it is a big part of the solution and represents a triple win,” McCormack claimed.
He said: “It is more profitable, it has lower emissions, and it can address some of the issues around animal welfare that we have seen used against us by groups and individuals who don’t need to be asked twice to find something to use against all commercial farming.”
The ICMSA president added: “People should not forget that the vast majority of farmers treat and care for their animals to the highest standards and we should not tarnish the whole sector for the misdeeds of a few.”
