Some 212 farmers are facing expulsion from Bord Bia’s Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) and risk not having their milk collected in 2025 unless they comply with calf slaughter rules.

From January to August this year, 212 farms of 8,582 audited were found to have breached the calf slaughter criteria of the SDAS standard. Under the rules, farmers are banned from slaughtering calves under eight weeks of age in 2024 and if they do must complete a calf breeding plan in 2025. If they slaughter under-age calves in 2025 they will be suspended from SDAS.

“All of these farms were required to complete a calf breeding and management plan as part of the close-out process,” a Bord Bia spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal. “It was agreed with stakeholders that this would be the requirement for the introductory period of the new criteria in 2024.

“These farms will be subject to another audit after the spring-calving season in 2025.”

From January 2025, if any farm breaches the calf slaughter criteria they will be suspended from the SDAS for up to six months, unless they can provide evidence of force majeure (issues beyond their reasonable control) or other significant mitigating factors, Bord Bia said.

Suspension length

The length of the suspension will be decided upon by the quality assurance certification committee on a case-by-case basis.

“After the suspension period ends, the farmer will then be permitted to reapply to join the SDAS. This applies to any herd found to be in breach of this criteria,” the spokesperson added.

Department of Agriculture data shows that 17,132 calves under the age of eight weeks were sent for slaughter at Department-approved plants between 1 January and 31 August this year.

The average age of these calves was 26 days. Some 6,170 of these calves came from Cork herds, 1,804 from Tipperary and 1,691 from Kilkenny.