Irish export companies advertise Friesian bull calves for free: an ad from Wicklow Calf Company says 18 Friesian bulls are “healthy, but undesirable for our work, but quite suitable for a good home.”

Wicklow Calf Company offers 20 “small” calves a week that are not suitable for export delivery.

“We buy all of our calves directly from the farmer. If there are small calves that are not suitable for export, we do not give them to the factories. We don’t like to kill them in terms of animal welfare, so we offer them for free. We gave 70 calves in one week, ”said Wicklow Calf Company spokesman Seamus Scallan.

An advertisement on DoneDeal.ie also says that calves are three to eight weeks old and will be gathered together at Kilacherler outside Arklow.

Seamus Scallan added that he remains seriously concerned about the capacity of the premises for live exports, and said that if the Minister of Agriculture does not resolve this issue in the near future and does not meet with exporters, 2020 could be a difficult year for exports .

“There is not enough dialogue between the minister and current exporters,” he said.