The amount of milk fed to dairy calves has significant welfare implications, with growing evidence that conventional restricted feeding causes hunger-related stress.
Restricted milk allowances have been standard in commercial dairy calf rearing as a strategy to encourage early solid feed intake and reduce milk costs. However, calves fed restricted milk allowances show behavioral indicators of hunger including high-pitched vocalizations, persistent sucking behavior on pen fittings and other calves, and elevated stress hormones. Research strongly supports that calves fed ad libitum milk have better welfare, higher growth rates, and develop equivalent or better solid feed intake behavior. The transition to automated calf feeders that allow ad libitum milk access represents a significant welfare improvement achievable within commercial systems. Weaning should be gradual to avoid the acute stress of abrupt milk removal.