Elon Musk weighs in on Irish dairy cull proposal

The Irish government’s proposal to reduce its national dairy herd to help achieve its climate change targets has picked up global attention from Twitter owner Elon Musk.

Mr Musk, ranked by Forbes as the world’s second richest person, said: “This really needs to stop. Killing some cows doesn’t matter for climate change.”

The initiative had already faced criticism from the agricultural sector with the Irish Farmers’ Association and Macra na Feirme (Ireland’s young rural people’s group) speaking out against it.

See also: Irish dairy herd set to be cut 10% under government plans

This really needs to stop. Killing some cows doesn’t matter for climate change.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2023

Tough climate change targets have been set by the Irish government, which are aiming to reduce emissions from farming by a quarter by 2030.

The exact proposal is still yet to be confirmed, but minister for agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said that a voluntary dairy reduction scheme is under consideration, which could see about 65,000 cows a year being taken out of production.

More information is due to be released by Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on the proposal later this year.