There’s a good case for allowing no age restrictions on calves to be moved off farm, provided they are being moved to another farm, IFA presidential candidate Martin Stapleton has said.

“Equally, I think there’s a good case for saying that some calves are appearing in marts at way too young an age.

“For farms where calves are going to have to be held longer, there’s going to have to be extra resources put in place to hold those calves, that needs to be grant-aided,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal debate on Monday.

His rival, Francie Gorman said that he is not fond of restrictions on farms but that he believes calves should be 21 days before they move off farm, full stop.

He said he believes the market should be allowed to regulate age and weight limits on calves.