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AN RTE show to be broadcast tonight will feature footage from marts in Kerry.
Tonight’s RTE Investigates programme shows how, at some Irish mart sales, animals couldn’t even be given away free of charge such is the oversupply of calves at peak points in the calving season, which is for a short six-eight week period in spring and also in autumn.
Over a number of weeks RTÉ Investigates filmed at several Irish marts, including Castleisland and Gortatlea in Kerry, and saw some handlers treat young calves capably and with respect. But others at some marts, including mart workers, farmers and transporters, showed a disregard for animal welfare.
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Tonight’s documentary will show examples of slapping, striking and kicking of animals, all prohibited by law, as well as throwing them mid-air which is regarded as a serious breach of animal welfare.
Under EU regulations, sticks are not permitted for use on young calves and a calf’s ears or tail, which is sensitive and can break, should not be twisted or pulled yet undercover footage shows occurrences of these by mart staff, by farmers and by transporters in Ireland.
The programme also investigates the journey taken by some of the 200,000 bull calves exported from Ireland every year to be fattened on veal farms in mainland Europe.
The team visits farms in Spain, Holland and Poland, where several dead calves with Irish identification tags were found by the investigation team.
The export of calves to the continent is a €170 million industry which see some ferries out of Irish ports carrying up to 3,000 calves in one sailing.
RTÉ Investigates sets out to see how the export system works. Following a truck with Irish calves from Wicklow late afternoon, first on to Rosslare Port where with other calf transporters, some with trailers board the 9pm ferry for Cherbourg.
The animals must remain inside the trucks for the entire journey. Aboard the trucks they have no access to milk.
RTÉ Investigates filmed below deck, where most of the calves were about three-to-four weeks old.
On arrival in Cherbourg the calves are unloaded, will be fed milk replacer and taken in for the night.
Having made the mandatory 12-hour rest overnight the truck fills up and the driver heads south, crosses the border into Spain before arriving into a veal farm near Barcelona.
At 4.57 am the calves, which left Wicklow, two and a half days ago, are unloaded. They and the RTÉ Investigates team had been on the road for 18 ½ hours continuously, with only short breaks.
RTÉ Investigates – Milking It: Dairy’s Dirty Secret, to be broadcast at 9.35pm tonight, is by RTÉ Prime Time presenter and former Agricultural Correspondent Fran McNulty and producer/director Frank Shouldice.
It is filmed by Matt Naughton. The award-winning journalists spent over five months investigating the story, filming through calving season and interviewed a wide range of contributors for the documentary.
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