The European Commission has proposed that calves must be at least five weeks old and weigh at least 50 kilograms before they can be transported over long distances. Currently, nearly three-quarters of the calves transported from Ireland to EU countries are less than five weeks old, according to the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Updating the EU rules for animals during transport is part of the Commission’s intention to revise the current 2005 animal welfare legislation. Initially, Brussels planned to modernize all animal welfare regulations, but EFSA Commissioner Stella Kyriakides has scaled it back to "animal welfare during transport," and even then to a limited set of rules.
Nevertheless, there are many objections and concerns, not only within the livestock and transport sectors but also among several EU countries. For example, the European Commission wants to end the "shuttling of live animals" to the cheapest slaughterhouses elsewhere in Europe by setting a maximum transport time of nine hours per day for slaughter animals. Brussels is also introducing stricter requirements for providing more space for animals during transport.
The Irish Department of Agriculture has prepared an official response to the proposals, which has been submitted to the Irish parliament and will soon be discussed in Dublin (and no doubt will subsequently appear on agenda tables at agriculture and fisheries meetings in Brussels).
In it, Minister Charlie McConalogue states that while Ireland "supports the reform of rules regarding animal welfare during transport," Ireland still has some "important concerns" (read: we are not there yet).
The DAFM believes that new transport rules must take into account Ireland’s "unique" geographical circumstances and the right of Irish businesses to maintain full access to the internal EU market. EU measures that "threaten" Irish market access and place Irish farmers at a disadvantage compared to their EU counterparts are expected to face "strong opposition" from the Irish agricultural sectors, according to DAFM.
Moreover, the Irish seriously question a key part of the newly proposed rules, pointing out that they are not scientifically substantiated and that there is no practical experience with them anywhere. Brussels wants to require that calves transported by truck be fed milk replacers en route (in the trailers), but Dublin calls this "risky and not evidence-based."
This system is used in Germany for administering electrolytes to calves during transport because calves risk diarrhea, colic, and dehydration if given milk replacer. According to Minister McConalogue, there is even scientific evidence that calves fed electrolyte solutions during transport perform better than those fed milk replacers during transport.
Ireland also states that it does not yet have enough qualified veterinarians to accompany livestock transport by sea to non-EU countries. New EU rules for ships exporting animals, introduced this year, require an official veterinarian to sail on board from the first voyage after the ship’s approval inspection.