Transport of young Irish calves to the Netherlands, among others
#animalsuffering #calves Cows in the dairy industry give birth to a calf every year to keep milk production going. The baby bulls and some of the girls, who are not needed in the dairy farm to be milked themselves, eventually end up like veal.
Every year, more than 100,000 young calves from Ireland are sold to breeding companies in countries such as Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. These calves are between two and three weeks old and should still be drinking with their mother. First, the calves are transported to a port in Ireland where they are loaded into a ship.
The journey to France takes more than 18 hours. Arriving at a port in Cherbourg, France, the calves are unloaded and fed. Some calves do not make the boat trip and die before they arrive in France.
Once the animals have eaten, they are loaded into trucks and transported to Spain, Italy or the Netherlands. The drinking system in the trucks is not suitable for young calves. So the animals cannot drink on the way. Once they have arrived at their destination, they have had a trip of up to 50 hours.
The maximum transport time of unweaned calves is 19 hours After arriving at a rearing farm, the animals will never come outside until they are transported to slaughter. The calves are fattened in a short period of time and their miserable life ends in a slaughterhouse after just a few months.
