Mr. Rob Doyle:

This is a very particular trade. It refers to male dairy calves. They are exported for one of two types of veal production, milk veal or rosé veal. The countries involved are mainly Spain and Belgium, which are the big importers. Dairy cows are calving now. By the end of February approximately 500,000 will have calved. Compact calving has been the aim in recent years. We have a short period in which high volumes of calves are born. At peak season, with ferries sailing seven days, we would expect to export 28,000 calves a week. At other times, when ferries sail three days a week, the figure is 12,000. Combining those figures gives an average of 80,000 a month. We will be at full capacity from March. At full capacity we should be able to export in two months the equivalent of all the calves exported last year, and we will have capacity over and above that.