The challenges for the dairy calf of the future need addressing now

A good question will always stop you in your tracks.

A young farmer recently asked me: “As a vet, do you really think we won’t have issues around calf welfare this spring? A poor calf price and more calves than ever in a shorter period of time?

"We need to be talking more about this, do you not agree?”

It is a question that has been on my mind often over the last year.

We have come a long way in the Irish dairy sector, especially with the effect EBI has had on our national dairy herd’s performance.

Improved genetics have led to better fertility, higher milk solids, cows that rarely need assistance at calving and increased profitability.

This increased efficiency means we have double the number of dairy calves coming in February than we did 10 years ago.

What does this mean for the farmer and what does this mean for the dairy calf?

For farmers who have increased numbers, it means an increased workload.

This creates a new bottleneck, especially around calf health.

With expansion I have seen lower investment in calf accommodation in some cases.

This means more calves through the same facilities on some farms, as most post-quota investment was made in parlours and cow accommodation.

Our recent Dairy Day calf shed talks aimed to highlight the importance of these facilities on any profitable dairy farm.

Calves are born without any real immunity.

Colostrum is the key driver of calf health. Hygiene is another key link.

If you combine this with good housing and feeding you have the essential ingredients of good calf rearing.

A calf that gets adequate colostrum, is warm, dry, has plenty fresh air and is well fed should thrive.

This is all dependent on the people managing the system – the farmers who will be working long hard hours managing everything. If something slips, everything comes under pressure – calves and people.

Perceptions

There is perhaps even a bigger challenge facing us in the coming years – one of perception.

This year, I have travelled to more than 15 countries and became immersed in their agriculture. Sadly, the theme of social licence keeps popping up.

This is the relationship between farmers and the public.

None of the countries I visited came near Ireland in terms of the support we have for what we are doing in our great industry.

You can’t help feeling the tide is changing though, with so much focus on issues such as the environment and animal welfare. It is a complicated issue.

Most people still require cheap food, but do their new exacting standards match their buying habits?

What will more calves mean for welfare, and what will an increasingly low-value male dairy calf mean?

Last year, 1% of calves were humanely killed within weeks of birth.

However, it is increasingly difficult for farmers to sell smaller male dairy calves and also the profitability figures from dairy to beef seem to be declining.

This has to affect mindsets at farm level. However, from a disease and welfare point of view, every calf must get colostrum and proper feeding while on farm.

From a production point of view, all calves are slaughtered anyway in their lifetime, so it makes sense given the genetic gains of our female progeny (solids/fertility/calving ease) that the male progeny may become an acceptable byproduct on certain farms.

With little financial gain or systems to rear them, humane slaughter at a young age makes sense.

However, it is now a reality in most developed countries that many people don’t like male calves being euthanised in the first weeks of life.

This is a view we usually associate with veganism, but it is much bigger than this tiny ideological bunch.

This is about the people in towns and cities up and down our country who have no idea where their food comes from.

There will always be markets for animal protein with a rapidly expanding global population, but should we be looking to create the greatest animal protein product in the world with the highest standards of welfare as one of many key pillars?

Premium markets often revolve around the story. What will our story be?

The cow and the consumer should be closely linked – we should tell people what we do and why we do it.

It is conceivable that the number of calves being put down in the first few weeks of life could increase if the economic value continues to decline coupled with increasing numbers.

Farming is about markets and without markets for some male dairy calves, there is little options available.

If our current figure of 1% of calves euthanised grew just to 5% over five years, this amounts to close to 75,000 calves.

This is still a relatively small number, but this number will mean different things to different people.

One of Ireland’s unique selling points has always been our empathy for the animals we farm.

As a young vet I went to a talk where a dairy processor put up a slide of a young male dairy calf with a cast on its broken leg.

It was promoting the high level of care given to every animal on the farm regardless of economic value.

My question is if you devalue something for long enough, does empathy decline?

My advice to farmers with lots of calves coming this spring is – be ready and have systems around maximising calf welfare (which correlate highly with profitability, by the way).

We need some joined-up thinking across our industries.

We have made phenomenal genetic gains that no one would want to compromise on.

However, we need to look hard at the options around improving the beef genetics in our dairy herds.

We need to drive forward fast on sexed semen and the newly created dairy beef index needs to come into play.

For many, this will seem like a reversal of so much progress, but it may pay dividends in the future.

The beef and dairy sectors must find a solution that can work for both.

I have seen first-hand what can be achieved in dairy to beef systems when the genetics are better.

Off a grass-based system with the right calves coming through, this can be a very profitable model.

In my opinion, welfare will be a key driver for our future markets.

We will have to apply the best science but also look at the uncomfortable reality of the perceptions of people.

These people are not only our market, but the vast majority of them are the voting public who can help support a sustainable agriculture industry into the future.