Dutch regulator acts against Irish companies over welfare concerns in calf transports

The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has decided to take action against Irish companies importing very young calves from Ireland. According to the Dutch regulator, these young animals receive hardly any fluids during transport trips that last several days, which violates the European Union’s animal rights regulations, NOS reports.

“We are issuing an order subject to a fine to four Irish transporters. They now have one year to adjust their operating procedures. If they fail to do so, they will have to pay penalties,” NVWA inspector Annebeth van Aartsen told NOS. She added that this requirement applies to all transporters.

This concerns the import of calves up to two months old, a byproduct of Ireland’s dairy industry. For cows to produce milk, they must give birth to a calf every year. Female calves can grow to become dairy cows, but male calves are left over. They are sold at low prices to calf-fattening farms, for instance in the Netherlands. According to NOS, 98.9 percent of the calves shipped from Ireland to the Netherlands are under two months old when they arrive here.

Currently, the calves are loaded onto trucks in Ireland that board a ferry to France. After a 19-hour crossing, they are unloaded to receive rest and fluids before they continue their journey to the Netherlands. This total trip lasts at least 50 hours, but can take up to 80 hours, according to the broadcaster.

European rules state that animals must be fed when “necessary” during transport. The European Commission and the NVWA interpret a scientifically established 12-hour interval as the point at which feeding becomes "necessary." In the current system, these very young calves receive fluids once during a trip that takes 50 to 80 hours.

The trucks used by the Irish transport companies lack drinking systems suitable for milk. Young calves also require assistance to drink. The Irish government previously confirmed that providing that assistance on the ferry is “practically unfeasible.”

The NVWA therefore considers it likely that transport conducted in this manner will have to stop. “This means the animals can no longer be transported from Ireland via France to the Netherlands in a single leg; instead, the transport would have to be organized differently,” Van Aartsen of the NVWA said. “That has a major impact, including on Irish businesses.”

The Dutch veal sector had previously indicated a desire to stop calf transports from Ireland by 2026 due to animal suffering involved in the transports. But NOS discovered earlier this year that the shipments are continuing undiminished.

The Dutch trade association for the veal sector told NOS that it does not “know exactly what the enforcement concerns” but believes “in general that everyone must comply with the law.”