PROPOSED NEW EU animal transport regulations would have an adverse effect on the Irish livestock trade, a conference in Kilkenny was told yesterday.
At the same time, the European Association of Livestock Marts conference heard that there was the potential for a very good market for Irish live exports in Europe.
Referring to proposed new EU rules on animal transport dealing with travel times and density of loading, Ray Doyle, chairman of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society’s livestock and environment committee, told the association that the new rules could result in the elimination of almost all live exports from Ireland.
Under current EU regulations, he said, the economics of animal transport off the island of Ireland were only just financially viable, he told the gathering of 130 representatives from across the EU.
“If we removed live exports, the competition for animals would obviously diminish and farmers would be the ultimate losers as prices for good quality cattle would fall,” he said.
“On the dairy side, the export of veal Friesian calves could also disappear and dairy farmers would possibly have to pay someone to take these animals rather than receive some money for them,” said Mr Doyle.
“Leaving exports aside, the domestic transportation of animals would also be affected negatively by this proposal as the stocking densities on Irish hauliers would also have to be decreased by almost 30 per cent in certain cases,” he added.
“This could impact on the trade of animals in the mart as the cost of transportation could increase dramatically, possibly pushing animals out of marts altogether. In addition to this, it has also been proposed to include an animal’s time spent on mart premises in its total transport time,” he said.
The Irish Farmers’ Association’s national livestock committee chairman Michael Doran said the live export trade had the potential to reach 250,000 heads this year, driven by increased demand in Italy and Spain, where beef prices are strong and a reduction in feed costs has restored profitability to cattle finishers.
Mr Doran said so far this year, live exports were up 88 per cent at 115,000 head.
He said calf exports are up 37,000 and finished cattle exports were up 11,500 head.
Mr Doran said there were two ferry companies available to the live export trade for transport to Europe and the significant reduction in oil prices and a second ferry operator had made shipping charges much more competitive.
He said the European Commission would find it very difficult to get backing from EU member states for their “unscientific proposals on stocking densities and travel times”.