Cattle marts throughout the country are holding a collective breath ahead of tonight’s RTÉ One Investigates under-cover look at the handling of calves in their care.
However, a spokesperson for Castleisland Co-Op Mart believes that the local mart has little or nothing to fear from the programme.
“All the staff here have been through a course in animal care and handling run by the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) under its strict guidelines,” said the spokesperson.
Training Programme Aims
The aim of the ICOS training programme is to equip drovers working in livestock marts and assembly centres with the skills and knowledge which will enable them to carry out their jobs to the highest international standards of best practice in the handling of livestock. Particular emphasis is placed on legislation, animal welfare and health and safety.
Department Check-Up
“Castleisland mart has been checked out by the Department of Agriculture and has been given a clean bill of health as far as the treatment of animals here is concerned,” the spokesperson added.
“If calves are being kept in the mart here overnight – and there are several operational reasons why they would – they’ll have a deep bed of straw under them and they’ll be fed at night and again in the morning.
“If anyone wanted to look into this any further we can produce receipts for the fodder we buy in cases where this happens,” according to the spokesperson.
Breaches of Regulations
According to the state broadcaster its RTÉ Investigates programme has been looking into Ireland’s dairy boom over the past few months. The boom began after restrictions on producing milk were lifted in 2015.
“The investigation has uncovered animal welfare issues at marts and breaches of regulations on the transport of animals in mainland Europe.
“Strict guidelines on animal welfare appear to be routinely flouted at many Irish marts.
“Prime Time presenter Fran McNulty tracked what a truck load of Irish bull calves experienced on their export journey,” according to a programme promotion today.
The programme, RTÉ Investigates – Milking it: Dairy’s Dirty Secret is on RTÉ One tonight, Monday, July 10th at 9.35pm.
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