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Farmers should plan to have on-farm facilities in place to store calves for periods of up to three or four weeks next spring, according to Ray Doyle, livestock and environment executive of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS).
Doyle says there is likely to be lairage shortages in Cherbourt come the busy period next spring.
“Lairage for 5,000 calves is the equivalent of about 16 trucks per sailing in total, given Department of Agriculture provisions of 316 calves per truck in stocking density,” Doyle said.
Animals shouldn’t be loaded, or a veterinary check authorised, until the accommodation for the calves is confirmed
“However, there is clearly capacity between both Stena Line and Irish Ferries to carry far more vehicles and calves than that. Stena Line alone has capacity for 22 trucks or just over 6,900 calves per sailing, with three sailings a week. If that was the case, it’s the equivalent of well over 20,000 calves a week, which would completely overload the system.
Capacity
Doyle went on to outline that the maximum number of calves travelling on the ferries last year from Ireland to Cherbourg was 12,000 per week.
“It is essential that Irish exporters communicate well in advance with the lairage operators to identify whether or not that capacity is available before sailing. It’s equally important, if an exporter cancels their sailing, that the lairage operator is also informed so that they can signal available capacity to other exporters,” said Doyle.
Regulation
He called on the Department of Agriculture to supervise and regulate live exporters to ensure that bookings are in place at the lairages before the calves leave Ireland.
“This is essential given there are now over 300,000 animals a year being exported from Ireland and transport is clearly a major element of this process. Animals shouldn’t be loaded, or a veterinary check authorised, until the accommodation for the calves is confirmed in advance of sailing. That way there can be greater assurance to be had on calf welfare which is essential from start to finish in the journey,” he added.
ICOS was clear in it’s message, warning of potential backlogs due to sailings being cancelled because of bad weather.
“This could create a major backlog of calves all the way back to the farm where it’s essential that farmers should plan to have housing and feeding capacity in pace for calves who are delayed transit. If these facilities are not in place then that becomes an animal welfare issue and nobody wants that,” said Doyle.
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