Threat to Irish calf exports as Dutch vote for ban

The Dutch House of Representatives, equivalent to Ireland’s Dáil, has voted to ban the import of calves.

A majority of the house voted on Tuesday in favour of a motion brought forward by the Party for the Animals, led by member Leonie Vestering.

The motion has now tasked the Dutch government to come up with a plan to end calf imports into the Netherlands.

Ireland has exported over 105,000 calves to the Netherlands so far this year, up approximately 15% on 2022 levels.

Dairy-sired

Some 64,000 of the calves were dairy-sired and another 42,000 were beef-sired.

While timelines for the ban are not yet know, the move by the Dutch is a major blow to the Irish dairy sector, with the avenue for thousands of Irish calves now under threat.

Cork-based exporter William O’Keefe, who exported nearly 22,000 calves to the Netherlands in 2022, said that while the ban has “a long way to go”, “there’s going to be no where to take up the slack”.