Veal production — raising male calves born to dairy cows for meat — has undergone significant welfare reforms in recent decades, including bans on narrow crates and minimum group housing requirements, but welfare concerns persist around separation from mothers, diet, and transport.
Veal welfare has improved substantially with the banning of veal crates and the development of group-housing systems, but significant welfare concerns remain. The separation of calves from their mothers is distressing for both parties and is unavoidable in all current dairy production models. Young calves transported internationally within days of birth experience multiple stressors simultaneously — separation, novel environment, unfamiliar nutrition, and transport stress. The practice of killing bobby calves at dairy farms rather than raising them for veal represents a welfare cost of a different kind — a very short life followed by slaughter, sometimes after inadequate care for a brief period on farm. Rosé veal systems that provide group housing, iron supplementation, and solid feed represent a meaningful improvement over traditional veal production.