Male calves born to dairy cows have no value in milk production and face welfare problems from abandonment, poor husbandry, and use in low-quality veal systems.
Dairy bull calves represent a welfare problem created by the economics of dairy production: animals whose lives have no commercial value unless specific markets exist for them. The welfare response involves creating better markets — rose veal programs that provide acceptable welfare standards — and changing dairy genetics through beef-dairy cross breeding that produces more commercially valuable calves. The welfare of these calves depends on commercial incentives aligning with their welfare needs.