Shocking Discovery Limerick

Conversations 3

Edit: true

Just a bit shocking that this is happening, wasn't there a similar story out of Galway last year?

893bet

The industry?

is this a single farm? Hardly seems to be an industry problem based on that screen shot.

893bet

Ah. It’s behind a paywall. You ain’t read it either but choose to come here and…..offer no opinion.

What do you think happened?

How does this relate to the industry?

What industry exactly is it you refer to?

patsy_mccabe

***** Text from Irish Times *****

The Department of Agriculture has begun an investigation at a Limerick farm after almost 400 calves were found dead.

The animals — predominantly Friesian and Jersey type bull calves — were discovered on the farm in the south of Limerick.

It is understood that the calves died due to a variety of issues, including disease and malnutrition. The discovery was made following a complaint from a neighbour over a smell coming from the farm.

Last year, 270 dead calves were discovered on a farm specifically set up as a calf rearing unit in northeast Galway. The calves had died as a result of disease and malnutrition and the Department launched an investigation into the matter. At the time, the incident was viewed as one of the biggest animal welfare incidents in the history of the State.

Animal welfare regarding Friesian and Jersey dairy bred bull calves has been an ongoing concern for the dairy industry in Ireland which prides itself on welfare standards. Typically dairy bull calves are low value animals, with poor potential to fatten for the beef trade due to their dairy genetics. Roughly 200,000 of these types of calves are exported every year to veal farms in continental Europe while those that remain are sometimes sold for as little as €5 each.

Since the abolition of dairy quotas in 2015, the number of dairy cows in the country has been increasing.

Figures from the Department of Agriculture show that there are nearly half a million more calves born to dairy dams every year — an increase of 46 per cent since 2011.

alps

Hope they mind the person in difficulty here.

White Clover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575389#Comment_119575389

That's the first thing that should be thought of but straight away the media have already decided what happened.

Did anyone hear the headlines on the 6 o clock news on Radio 1? RTE are turning into the greatest shower of cu*ts in this country, the lowest of the low.

Time to bite the bullet and set up a veal industry here, at least for export.

Packrat

Whatever the situation - and I won't go into speculation, but there's something well wrong in the industry when this can happen.

It's doubtful that it's an accident that these were dairy bulls worth next to feck all and not high value stock.

This is the type of situation which makes the public turn against farmers.

We know that there's differences between us and how we manage animals but nobody outside the industry is interested in specifics.

They just see 400 dead baby calves.

To be honest, as a farmer myself, it's hard to look beyond that and make excuses or see any valid explanation.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575835#Comment_119575835

It's irrelevant whether or not there is a veal industry here and if there was it would loss making as the product would primarily be for export. Input costs have risen considerably in the past year - cmr has gone up by €1,000/ton and rising, vaccines, meds, Vet costs etc on top of increased transport costs. I looked into rearing veal nine or ten years ago and even back then you would be producing at a loss.

kk.man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575776#Comment_119575776

I completed concur with you. RTE seems to have concluded the investigation and all calves dead are bulls. Fair play to them.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575776#Comment_119575776

Their anti livestock agenda is coming to the fore and they are not the only media outlet to show similar bias.

If people aren't careful,the dept are gonna start demanding lads produce a permit or be QA certified to buy calves

Wiping out alot of ould lads who rear small numbers in bits of acres and gardens around the country (who do nothing wrong as per this case)

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575389#Comment_119575389

I'm curious about that statement.

In what way would the person require minding if this is a genuine case of negligence?

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576480#Comment_119576480

Health issues or mental health issues.

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576488#Comment_119576488

I'm sure it could be argued that every single person who finds themselves before the courts facing criminal charges deserves to be protected in the name of such.

1373

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576375#Comment_119576375

Heard the report on RTE this evening, no anti livestock agenda apparent. Just reported how it was discovered and the numbers involved

Packrat

Fierce silence altogether today on a couple of other threads here very relevant to this case. .

It's as if they didn't hear about it or maybe dont want to.

Lime Tree Farm

How can we comment on something when we know nothing of the circumstances - do you imagine we are all familiar with this case

White Clover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576560#Comment_119576560

Go back and listen to it again. Plenty insinuations made. Impartial journalism my ar*e.

Silverdream

Strange how 400 animals can just be let die like that. What about all this Traceability we hear about.

I had an inspection last year, 2 animals out of 95 had 1 tag missing. jazus yourman nearly wrote a book about it in for the report even though I had th replacement tags.

I must move the farm to limerick

screamer

Sorry lads but if you think 400 calves dead on a farm from malnutrition and other issues caused by lack of giving a f@@k warrants anything less than jail time, you’re dreaming. Animal welfare cases are being dealt with these days with hard sentences and to be honest, that’s what it has to be. There’s a much bigger issue that needs to be discussed that’s the elephant in the room, but truth be told cases such as these will speed up the public sentiment turning and hasten huge clamp downs on dairy farming intensity.

Birdnuts

It will be interesting to see if the farm was Bord Bia approved.

Siamsa Sessions

Is there anything to be gained having a thread like this?

There are too many details missing and some on here might even name/shame who they think the farmer involved is, which might not be the right person at all.

Others will use this case to insult all farmers on this thread.

Genuine question for MODS: what's the benefit of this thread? There are several other threads where the pros and cons of low-value bull calves from dairy cows are being teased out, without any sensational headlines, and where there's more light than heat unlike what's likely to be said on this thread.

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576837#Comment_119576837

A high profile case thats in the news is fair game for discussion I would have thought.

evolvingtipperary101

What happened to the famer/s involved in this case?

paddysdream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576837#Comment_119576837

Should we just ignore it then ?

What details are missing that you would rather we not discuss the issue ?

This is slightly different to the pro's and con's of low value dairy bred bulls to be honest .I would imagine the stock in question were indeed that type but 400 dead calves is taking the p@@s if thats the numbers involved .No problem waiting to see the eventual outcome but not willing to discuss it is a different matter entirely .Whether we like it or not stuff like this really doesn't help agriculture's image especially after the fallout from all the carbon nonsense over the Summer .

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058262043/shocking-discovery-limerick

It says 100 calves on RTE website. Someone is making a massive mistake somewhere:

Around 100 dead calves reported found on Limerick farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576963#Comment_119576963

They counted the legs!!

patsy_mccabe

How can it go from 400 today in The Times article, to 100 tonight on RTE news?

greysides

Until there's more information in the public domain, all we are doing is speculating. The thread will remain closed till then.