Dairy calves are typically separated from their mothers within hours of birth causing significant welfare problems for both mother and calf.
Maternal separation in dairy farming causes acute distress in both cow and calf with measurable stress hormone elevation lasting days. Isolated calves housed individually cannot perform social behaviours and show signs of frustration. The practice of killing male dairy calves at birth represents a profound welfare failure. Alternative systems including dam rearing, shared suckling, and nurse cow programmes improve welfare but require management changes that most dairy systems resist.