Livestock transportation will be limited, with a ban on transportation of calves under one month of age. After that the time spent in transport will not be allowed to exceed two hours. This means residents of Kurzeme will not be able to transport calves from Latgale and vice versa.
Animals in the last stages of pregnancy will not be allowed to be transported and the transportation of animals to be slaughtered will not be allowed to exceed eight hours
This decision was made by the European Parliament in the vote on amendments for animal transportation rules. This decision caused a major shock among farmers across Europe.
Industry experts explain how this will affect farmers in Latvia.
The Farmers Saeima (ZSA) livestock expert Raimonds Jakovickis: «Any legislative changes have to primarily focus on protection of animals, but they also have to be scientifically justified and practical. Nowadays there are all kinds of technological solutions to help improve quality of transportation and animal welfare in transport. Before making this decision, it would have made more sense to perform an evaluation of social-economic influence of this decision, because these proposals should be based on facts, not emotions.»
«We export live animals to and from the EU. We also import breeding animals. These amendments will especially affect organic farms, because 80% of our meat is organically produced. We export about 60 000 and import more than 2 000 animals annually. This is why their transportation is an integral part of livestock production and commerce,» notes Jakovickis.
«Both buyers of animals and their breeders are interested in making sure animals are treated well in transit.»
The expert says the existing regulations provide high standards for animal welfare and vehicles used to transport animals. «The last-moment additions to different animal categories banned to be transported may severely affect animal transportation in Latvia and EU member states, which will have a negative effect on export markets.»
ZSA board member Kaspars Ādams says: «In Latvia nearly all small calves are exported to Lithuania, Israel, Poland or the Netherlands as early as the 14th day. In 2023 this will no longer be possible and the calves will need to be kept by farmers until they reach 35 days of age.»
«Dairy farmers have a year to prepare their infrastructure to be able to keep calves for longer.»
«Heifers aren’t exported – they remain at the farm for breeding. Exports of pregnant cattle is not currently important in Latvia. This is why these changes will not have much of an effect. As for the eight-hour limit for transportation of livestock for slaughter, this livestock is mostly carried to Lithuania and Poland. If markets of these countries become unreachable, local slaughterhouses will have no competitors, leaving farmers with no way to affect prices,» Ādams says.
The owner of Mežacīruļi farm Juris Cīrulis: «I believe the higher-ups of the European government have been taken over by some kind of ‘reform fever’, because changes keep coming one after another. There was nothing wrong with how things were until now. It would have made more sense to increase control over the current system. With the new changes the farmers are the ones to lose the most. Only the people who work on generating new rules and laws, imitating work to preserve their cushy seats, will benefit from it.»
ZSA adds: «Because the recommendations from the European Parliament will need to be reviewed by the European Commission, we hope those people will be more pragmatic. We hope the European Commission will take into account the evaluation of influence and ask the European Food Safety Authority to scientifically assess the proposed animal transportation improvements, not focus solely on the time it takes to transport animals.»
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