Bord Bia has rejected a new animal welfare report by Dutch animal rights NGO Wakker Dier which it conducted on 13 Irish beef farms last winter.

The NGO is calling on Dutch retailers to support beef products produced under Dutch brand Beter Leven (Better Life) conditions, as opposed to Irish beef with Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS) certification.

The report looked at issues such as castration and dehorning without anaesthesia, along with outdoor grazing not being mandatory under SBLAS. All of the farms had concrete slatted flooring in their sheds.

Outdoor grazing is not mandatory under SBLAS as Irish beef production is grass-based. Bord Bia figures show that, on average, animals from SBLAS farms are outdoors at grass for 223 days each year.

Wakker Dier alleges that six of the 13 farms were SBLAS farms, however this cannot be confirmed due to privacy rules. It also suggests that animal welfare is not important to Bord Bia or to SBLAS farmers.

High standards

Commenting on the report, Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy said: “The allegations made by Wakker Dier do not give an honest or factual representation of the high standards of Irish beef production.

“To judge, and seek to damage, the reputation of our nation’s beef production system based on an analysis of just 13 farms is unjust and wilfully malicious.

“Equally, to suggest animal welfare it is not important to Bord Bia’s SBLAS members is fundamentally and entirely inaccurate.

“SBLAS is an important guarantee for buyers of Irish beef throughout the world, and farmers who do not meet the strict criteria of the system, will not be certified,” she said.

In 2017, Bord Bia audited 33,000 farms. Of this number only seven farms ha animals housed indoors for the full year – all seven of these farms were specifically for finishing cattle.

Cover story

In the report Wakker Dier states: “The researchers were given access to the farms with a cover story. They pretended to be journalists from a Polish newspaper who were investigating the influence of Brexit on the Irish beef industry.”

The publication also admitted that farmers did not know they were being filmed and recorded.

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