Brittany Ferries Ends Live Irish Calf Exports

On September 1, Brittany Ferries stopped transporting live farm animals including unweaned calves.

The move marks another milestone in a campaign by NGOs to end long-distance live transport and ensure animal welfare legislation is effectively enforced. It has been led by a partnership of animal welfare protection groups including: Ethical Farming Ireland, Compassion in World Farming, Eurogroup for Animals, Eyes on Animals, FOUR PAWS, L214, Southampton Animal Action and Welfarm.

The decision follows growing public and customer concern over the welfare of unweaned calves transported on lengthy sea journeys between Ireland and France, ahead of their onward road journey to destinations across Europe. This year alone over 160,000 calves under six weeks old have been transported on long journeys from Ireland to countries including Poland, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.

This latest move means that two ferry operators have now stepped away from facilitating the trade within the space of a year, with Stena Line withdrawing their Ireland to France service in October 2025 and Brittany Ferries confirming farmed animal transport would cease from September 1, 2026.

The spotlight now turns firmly on Irish Ferries, the remaining ferry operator transporting unweaned calves from Ireland to France, says Ethical Farming Ireland.

Caroline Rowley, Ethical Farming Ireland, said: "Thousands of unweaned calves are suffering and welfare legislation is being breached on these long sea journeys, so we strongly welcome the decision by two private companies to no longer be involved in this inhumane trade. We now look to Irish Ferries to immediately stop carrying calves onboard their ships and we call on the Irish Government and EU Commission to urgently enforce the EU legislation that is being breached during the journey from Ireland to France on roll-on roll-off ferries. It is impossible for the calves to be fed, and it’s time the Commission acted on their audit that confirmed these journeys are not in line with EC Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport.”

A recent EU Commission report (2025) acknowledges that these journeys are a welfare failure stating “calves are not fed at the required intervals.” This follows the Commission’s 2023 audit which in its view: “…the transport of unweaned calves from Ireland to France is being carried out in breach of Council Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport.”  

The future of the trade is becoming increasingly uncertain. In the Netherlands, the destination for the majority of Irish calves, the veal industry welfare action plan has pledged to stop importing calves from Ireland from 2028. This follows a 2023 Parliamentary Motion that stated: "...that long-distance transport of very young calves is accompanied by serious animal suffering."

Viable alternatives are available, including domestic rearing and finishing systems, developing higher-value markets for dairy-beef animals, and expanding on the dairy calf to beef programs currently in place. Already only around 10% of dairy calves are exported and over 25% of dairy farmers are keeping all their calves and rearing the males for beef.

“There is no reason why we can’t keep them all,” said Rowley. “Better still, we should be developing high welfare dairy systems where the calves stay with their mother until weaned. These types of farms are growing across Europe and across the world. Ireland is a laggard when it comes to animal welfare.”

Over 75,000 people have already contacted Irish Ferries, through a Compassion in World Farming action, calling on them to end their involvement in live animal exports.