Relevant Matter
Public policy or programme
Public Policy Area
Agriculture
Period
1 Sep, 2019 to 31 Dec, 2019
Specific Details
Managing Dairy Calves
Intended results
Actions on Farms: Farmers take full responsiblity for all the calves born on their herds, regardless of sex or breed. Zero tolerance for animal abuse or cruelty.
Actions on Farms: Use of best calf management and rearing practice to ensure the calves are fit and healthy, with optimum economic potential.
Actions on Farms: Quality AI using bulls from the Dairy Beef Index list and complete the breeding season only with pedigree stock bulls.
Actions on Farms: Accurate registration of calves.
Actions on Farms: Consider the need to keep calves longer or explore contract rearing. Grant aid for calf facilities must support this.
Actions on Farms; Recourse to young calf slaughter facilities must be the absolute last resort and be phased out.
Actions by Stakeholders: Stakeholders must use their forums to communicate that the reputation of agriculture and the dairy sector relies on best calf care practice, and to challenge mindsets and prove the economic value of the dairy calf to beef system.
Actions by Stakeholders: Teagasc, following the Grange Dairy Beef Project, to produce an advisory template to train and support livestock farmers in purchasing or contract rearing dairy calves.
Actions by Stakeholders: One to one dairy and beef farmer partnerships must be encouraged to foster trust, contracts facilitated and a calf transaction platform developed to ascertain calf value based on quality, breed, sex and genetics information and to facilitate the flow of calves from dairy to beef farms. Marts will be central in this, providing information on weights, grading, price, and the logistics around transport.
Actions by Stakeholders: Opportunities for all possible calf outlets, including veal meat, and joint schemes such as the Glanbia/Kepak Twenty/20, must be explored.
Actions by Stakeholders: An Irish lab must be set up to sex our best bulls' semen, in an Irish context, and the use of sexed semen encouraged.
Actions by Stakeholders: The rate of genetic improvement from EBI must be replicated for the ICBF Dairy Beef Index (DBI), and its use by farmers optimised.
Actions by Government: Grants (TAMS-type) must be made available to develop calf rearing facilities.
Actions by Government: Sales and handling of calves through marts must be policed to ensure only healthy, hardy calves fit for transport and sale are brought in.
Actions by Government: Optimise export capacity in best welfare conditions by engaging with shipping companies and lairage operators, through regulated co-ordination and bookings and by exploring the option of walk-on-walk-off shipments.
Actions by Government: Work with Irish exporters and with the French authorities to ensure that EU welfare standards, the highest in the world, are duly enforced, including the provision of proper calf care training of all staff in contact with calves.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Tom Phelan IFA Dairy Chairman
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Michael Creed
Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Philip O'Callaghan
Special Adviser (Department of the Taoiseach)
Jackie Cahill
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Marcella Corcoran Kennedy
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Pat Deering
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Willie Penrose
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Brian Stanley
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Rose Conway-Walsh
Senator (Seanad)
Paul Daly
Senator (Seanad)
Tim Lombard
Senator (Seanad)
Michelle Mulherin
Senator (Seanad)
Charlie McConalogue
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Lower House of the Oireachtas)
Thomas Pringle
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)