Calving is well under way and the halfway point should be well passed within the next week. Two vet calls in the first three calvings were a bit disconcerting. One heifer’s calf had its head back at calving and I couldn’t for the life of me sort it out.

Another heifer calved fine but put her womb out after. Thankfully all is under control again. The focus now is on getting the basics right and giving every calf a good chance.

I’ll admit I have concerns with the current situation that is unfolding at calf sales this spring.

I can understand why there are dairy farmers who say the bull calf is irrelevant to their business. It costs them time and money and it’s not their core activity. However, while the cost to the individual farmer is one thing, the cost to the reputation of Irish agriculture is what’s potentially at stake now.

The puzzle of what to do with excess dairy bull calves is not solely a legacy of the post-2015 dairy expansion. I’ve heard 1974 referenced a bit of late and how valueless calves were back then.

Just as now, some farmers received no bids for their calves in the ring. I’m reliably informed that the pub was a common stop on the way home from marts in those days. On getting home from the mart via a high stool, the unsuspecting patron could arrive home to find more calves in the trailer than they left with that morning.

While taking refuge in a pint glass and pondering what to do with their calves that no one else wanted, other farmers took advantage of the parked up cars and trailers and reduced their own calf numbers.

The animal identification system now in place means practices like this are rare.

There was a glimmer of hope in those 1974 stories too. I know of two families who ended up buying land on the proceeds of those unsellable calves, when they sold them two or three years later.

There are records from the early 17th century of calves being “cast out to be eaten by crows and wolves”.

Jumping forward a few years, the English agricultural writer Arthur Young, while touring Ireland from 1776 to 1779, encountered the practices within the Golden Vale. He wrote: “Vast numbers of calves are killed at two to three days old for an execrable veal they call ‘staggering Bob’, I suppose from the animal not being old enough to stand steady on its legs.” For any foodies interested in the dish, it consisted of calf flesh scalded in water and fried with bacon. Perhaps it’s legacy is the term “Bobby calf”.

Not a new problem

These are examples to show surplus calves are not a new problem. It’s a dangerous position for the bovine sector to be in when there are animals that have no monetary value. As society in this country continues to move from rural to urban, the same old routine won’t suffice for anyone involved in animal agriculture. Given that we live in an era of instant communication farmers have to be more on top of their game in how stock are treated than ever before.

This spring it will be a case of ride out the storm but a bit more thinking needs to be done to reduce the risks in future.

While joined-up thinking doesn’t seem to have been used much when plans for the development for Irish agriculture were formed, it has to be on the agenda now.

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