INVESTIGATION: Every calf has ‘value’? Buitelaar Group exposed

Animal Justice Project filmed undercover at Buitelar’s calf collection centre in Wrexham.

They receive up to 1,500 calves every week to be sold for fattening and eventual slaughter. The Buitelaar Group is a large calf trader originated from Ireland with four major collection centres. Many calves sold to traders are born on dairy farms with the sire being a ‘beef breed’; whether the baby is male or female, they are then sold on for 'rearing' in the beef industry. This is another key part of the integrated dairy-beef industry, which Animal Justice Project exposed for the first time in the UK in 2020.

The Buitelaar Group produces 'beef' and 'rose veal' for major supermarket Morrisons, by fattening male dairy-bred calves. Around 60,000 male dairy calves continue to be shot on UK farms each year; however, almost 65,000 were also sent to slaughterhouses in 2020 and a further 28,000 in 2021. Many calves also enter rearing systems through traders such as Buitelaar. This large company offers ‘The Buitelaar Promise’, which outlines numerous assurances to its customers, including the claim that calves are “treated with the utmost respect” through the company’s “higher welfare values”.

The field work

In 2021, our brave investigation team put cameras inside Buitelaar’s Wrexham collection centre.

We launched our Buitelaar investigation and hosted an all-day social media action on World Plant Milk Day. Dozens of activists from all over the world (including Germany, Australia and Mexico) took part in an awareness-raising online action. This consisted of activists sending us photos with ‘The Buitelaar Promise = EXPIRED’ written on their hands, as seen on our social media. Now, the commodification of calves by Buitelaar, and the powerful investigation work by Animal Justice Project, is known across the globe!

As the dairy and beef industries further integrate, the exploitation of calves continues. Sending male dairy calves to beef farms has been put forward as a ‘solution’ to their being shot on farms; however, Animal Justice Project has revealed that many go to slaughter, and young, vulnerable babies enter the beef industry. The Buitelaar Group is central to the trade in calves for veal and beef, and should never have been awarded ‘The Good Calf Award’ by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). The exploitation and killing of animals is not something to celebrate.

“Every calf should have a value and purpose.. we’re confident our calf rearing units deliver the highest welfare and care for calves” – Adam Buitelaar, Managing Director Buitelaar Group

What we found

We caught workers on camera treating calves like they were simply property.

They were shoving them down trailer ramps before processing them one-by-one. Some calves were left without food for many hours at the centre and appeared distressed, crying out. One such calf was left without access to food for over 21 hours.

Male calves inevitably end up inside a slaughterhouse, whether they are 10 days old, or 12 months old.

Animal Justice Project leads the way in exposing the beef, dairy and calf trade.

No animal deserves to be traded like property, including male dairy calves.

The integration of the dairy and beef industries is not a solution, it is exploitation and must be ended. But, to make this happen, we need your help. Please use your voice to share the truth about this common practice that occurs not only in the UK but globally. And please, leave calves, and all animals, off your plate.

Our investigation at Buitelaar Group reveals that tiny infants are treated as commodities.

HOW CAN YOU HELP

Care about calves? Demand Morissons do better by dropping Buitelaar.

It’s time Morrisons took a stand! Morrisons drop Buitelaar. Email the supermarket to act against calf cruelty.

Also send our letter to the CEO of Sainsbury’s to demand action for calves and urge Müller to prohibit the onward trade of calves from their farms.