They are provided with adequate space allowance per calf and may have access to the outdoors. They are fed a normal diet for growing calves, without restriction of iron intake and solid food. In the best systems, such as many organic systems, the calves are able to suckle from an older cow retired from the dairy herd. These systems provide greater comfort, reduced risk of injury and better opportunities for natural behaviour, social interaction and exercise.
In this system, calves are reared with their mothers in the suckler herd and may be weaned before slaughter. This system is capable of providing the highest level of welfare for calves reared for veal as they are neither separated from their mother nor transported to rearing farms. Calves reared in suckler herds have the health and psychological benefits of suckling from their mother, a normal diet and increased opportunities for natural behaviour, social interaction and exercise.
Calves reared to Freedom Food standards are group housed in deep straw-bedded barns. They have greater space allowance and their diet must prevent anaemia and any mineral or vitamin deficiency.
They receive more iron than minimum UK legal requirements and unweaned calves must have unlimited access to grass or a minimum amount of fibrous feed. We promise not to spam you and you can unsubscribe anytime.
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Please do bear with us if this is the case. Farm animals Cows Veal calves Dairy cows. Farm animals Calves reared for veal Read more. Since the ban on veal crates was introduced in January , calves up to eight weeks old may be kept in individual pens, where they can turn around and be in contact with other calves. Veal crates have been illegal in the UK and Europe since but are still used in some countries.
They should enjoy a quality and nutritious diet, proper bedding and access to the outdoors from 8 weeks old at the latest. Consumer demand has the potential to help reduce the number of bobby calves treated as by-products of dairy farming. Veal crates The system of veal production where calves spend their entire lives in individual crates with solid wooden sides that do not allow the animal to turn around or express natural behaviours, has never been used in Australia.
Write to your supermarket and let them know that you are interested in veal or dairy beef farmed to higher welfare standards.
How are beef cattle reared? There are hundreds of cow breeds; some have been bred for their meat characteristics — Black Angus, Limousin, Hereford, Charolais, Wagyu, and the list goes on — while others have been bred for their milk-producing capabilities, such as the Holstein-Fresian which make up well over 80 percent of dairy cattle , Guernsey, Jersey, and a handful of others.
Of all the cow breeds, probably 99 percent of veal sold worldwide comes from the dairy breeds, mainly the Holstein-Fresian. The Holstein is that unmistakable black-and-white-patched, long-legged creature with a massive pink udder.
As you can imagine, the number of calves born to dairy cows is staggering — far more than is necessary to provide replacements for retiring dairy cows given that the average Holstein is productive for six years. Consumer demand for veal essentially dictates which fate the unneeded calves will follow. Of the three possible fates, it would seem that raising them as veal would be the most sustainable and humane option. During the same period, the dairy industry has dramatically grown, thereby producing even more calves.
I blame this conundrum on the stupidity of the veal industry as a whole, in its creation of one of the most inhumane and utterly disgusting animal husbandry practices humankind has ever seen. The multi-billion-dollar global white-veal industry is based on producing milky-coloured, tender meat. The crates are about thirty inches wide and seventy-two inches long, therefore prohibiting the calf from turning around; all they can do is stand up, lie down, and eat. By promoting white-coloured meat, the industry has had the justification to feed the animals an all-liquid milk-replacer diet that is deficient in iron and fibre and composed primarily of cheap industrial bi-products.
Veal crates were prohibited in the U. Although lagging behind, the board of the American Veal Association passed a resolution recommending that all veal producers in the U. In Ontario, supposedly no veal producers use crates and instead use stalls, hutches or pens.
For the love of Mother Nature and all things holy in this world, avoid white veal. It is indefensible. I can envision the flashiness of red-veal labels plastered over plastic-wrapped Styrofoam trays. The move towards a higher-in-iron diet, coupled with the fact that the use of crates for raising veal is on its way out around the world, will no doubt be a step in the right direction.
There will be higher-welfare — dare I say, organic — methods of raising red veal that will see calves reared in small groups in straw-bedded sheds with adequate space allowance per calf and access to the outdoors when weather permits. Conversely, there will also be lower welfare, intensive systems of raising red veal that will feature group pens stuffed with eighty calves housed on extremely uncomfortable wooden slat floors with no access to natural light or fresh air, and with little roughage in their diet.
So be forewarned — not all red veal is created equally. The only veal we sell at The Healthy Butcher is pasture-raised. The photos accompanying this article showcase the veal and beef from one of our favourite grass farmers — the Webers in Paisley, Ontario.
David and Ellen Weber and their five children are a lovely Mennonite family who use nature to its fullest potential. On their farm, calving only happens in the spring when it is naturally supposed to occur. Cows would never give birth in the fall without human intervention; they instinctively know that a baby calf would not survive the harsh winter.
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