The transport of young dairy calves — often just days old — to veal units or fattening farms is one of the most welfare-significant events in the dairy supply chain.
The transport of very young dairy calves is a welfare crisis driven by the economics of dairy farming. Male dairy calves and surplus female calves have little value to the dairy industry and are sold at minimal prices to veal or beef units, often hundreds or thousands of kilometers away. At days or weeks of age, calves have not yet developed the immune competence, thermoregulatory capacity, or psychological resilience to cope with long journeys. The result is high rates of illness and death shortly after arrival. Welfare improvements require minimum age-at-transport standards of at least 4 weeks, maximum journey duration limits for young calves, and support for on-farm or local veal production that eliminates long-distance transport.