THL
Veal is notorious for its cruelty. All veal comes from a baby cow who was separated from their mom at birth and forced to endure horrific abuse.
There is growing awareness around the cruelty behind veal, and with good reason. The unethical practices behind veal production point to a painful truth: to profit from the demand for tender meat, the veal industry inflicts unimaginable anguish on young calves.
Insight into the cruelty behind veal begins with an understanding of its terminology: veal is broadly classified as meat from baby cows who are under a year old, while meat from cattle who are over a year old falls into the category of beef.
Many animals who are raised for meat get to live only a fraction of their natural lifespans, and calves raised for veal are no exception. While the typical lifespan of a cow is usually 15–20 years, veal calves are sent to slaughter before they’re 20 weeks old.
Even with their shortened life expectancy, calves raised for veal suffer from their first moment to their last. Without the comforting presence of their mothers, these wide-eyed newborns starve for both affection and nourishment, ingesting only an artificial milk substitute and remaining caged in small pens until their death.
What animal does veal come from?
Veal comes from male calves, or baby cattle, who are killed at just a few months old. The outlook for male calves in the dairy industry is grim: they are often slaughtered within hours of their birth or sent to veal crates—small plastic huts with a fenced area that allows just enough space for a calf to stand. These confined spaces keep calves from engaging in typical activity that would otherwise develop their muscles, like walking, running, or playing. The sole outcome for these baby cows is to become tender meat, and veal calves need soft, underdeveloped muscles to meet the expectation of how veal should taste.
Most calves sent to veal pens are slaughtered around 16–18 weeks old, but for some types of veal the process can be even more cruel. The meat industry categorizes veal into several distinct types: rose veal, bob veal, and slink veal. These designations point to the age of the calf at slaughter—or worse.
Rose veal
Rose veal is produced from calves who are slightly older than most others raised on veal farms. For this product, calves are slaughtered at the age of six months or older.
Bob veal
Around 15% of veal on the market is considered “bob veal,” which is produced entirely from newborn calves. These youngest calves are allowed to live up to just three weeks, or until they’ve reached 150 pounds.
Slink veal
Slink veal is made from stillborn calves, or unborn calves taken from slaughtered pregnant cows. It’s illegal in the US and Canada.
How is veal made?
The brutal process of veal production begins almost immediately after a calf is born. These newborns are separated from their mothers at birth, transported to a veal farm, then slaughtered in their infancy. Here’s a closer look at this inhumane practice.
Separated at birth
Calves are taken from their mothers within a day, or even hours, of birth. Like other mammals, these mother cows lactate after pregnancy, but they’re denied the chance to nurse their babies. Humans purchase and consume their milk, while their calves are intentionally malnourished to produce tender flesh.
Cows form strong emotional bonds with their babies and have been known to cry out as their calves are taken, or try to follow them as they are carried away. According to Daniel Weary, an animal welfare scientist at the University of British Columbia, “The calves will engage in repetitive crying and become more active, and sometimes you'll see a decline in their willingness to eat solid food.”
Transported
Calves as young as one day old get transported to a veal farm: the last place they’ll ever live. Like other farmed animals, calves raised for veal endure long drives on crowded trucks from farm to slaughterhouse.
These long journeys on transport trucks can be grueling, spanning many miles, leaving calves without food or water and passing through all weather conditions: hot days, frigid nights, or frightening storms.
A study published in 2020 found that health problems increased in calves during the three weeks following transport. Calves developed sunken eyes from dehydration, navel inflammation, and respiratory symptoms.
Slaughtered
Veal cattle are killed while they are still babies, their bodies so weak that some can barely walk to the slaughter line.
On the killing floor, calves are stunned with a bolt gun, electric shock, or other means to knock them unconscious before hanging them upside down by their back legs and cutting their throats. But all too often this stunning process fails, leaving some calves conscious when their throats are slit. In 2014, the US Department of Agriculture shut down a slaughterhouse operated by one of the nation’s largest veal producers after it found that calves were still wide awake on the conveyor belt.
Why is veal cruel?
Veal production is synonymous with abuse of baby cattle. Newborn calves endure separation from their mothers and their natural source of food (cow’s milk), and live for just a brief portion of their typical lifespans. To create tender meat for veal, these calves also suffer in a severely restricted environment.
Crates
Veal crates are tiny spaces designed to prevent calves from moving. Because muscles make meat tougher, baby cows in veal crates are confined from running, jumping, or even walking to produce the most tender veal. In some cases, calves are chained in place within their crates.
Due to their cruelty, these crates have been banned in the UK and Europe. Multiple US states have banned them, too, including California, through its landmark legislation, Proposition 12.
Restricted space
Extreme confinement takes a devastating toll on the bodies of calves. Denied exercise and adequate nutrition, their muscles become weak and atrophy. Such limited movement can lead to painful arthritis in their joints, affecting as many as 40% of crated calves.
Abnormal behaviors
Like other animals in captivity, veal calves can develop “stereotypies”—abnormal repetitive behaviors. The distressed calves often bite at the bars of their crates, become lethargic, or roll their tongues. Researchers believe the stress of being separated from their mothers and severely confined can trigger stereotypy—and that these repetitive behaviors can be reduced by providing more space and group housing to foster companionship.
Abnormal gut development
Providing calves with solid feed is important for the development of the rumen, which is one of the compartments of a cow’s stomach. The problem with veal is that baby cattle are fed a liquid-based diet, which can leave them unable to properly digest their food and absorb minerals. Additionally, the lack of iron in their diet leaves veal calves anaemic.
Veal calves are also prone to ulcers and other painful stomach lesions, possibly caused by large and infrequent milk feedings administered through bottles. In a heartbreaking reminder that these are lonely baby animals, research found fewer lesions in calves who were handled gently, petted, and allowed to suck on fingers—which simulates nursing from their mothers.
Drug use
Meat producers often feed calves antibiotic medications to prevent disease, which runs rampant on overcrowded factory farms.
While drugs can help to prevent disease, they can also cause harm. Studies found that some farmed calves experienced overdoses of doxycycline, a medication that was given to treat respiratory illness. Despite this, in 2019 researchers found the use of doxycycline in veal calves had increased.
Increased disease susceptibility
Respiratory diseases, including pneumonia, are among the most common in veal calves. Tina Engelhardt of the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports that farmed calves fail to receive the antibodies they’d normally receive through their mother’s milk—and, as a result, are at risk for pneumonia throughout their short lives.
Calves can also suffer from otitis, an ear infection that often occurs alongside respiratory infections.
Diarrhea is another serious concern tied to their formula diet, sometimes causing skin rashes and burns. Engelhardt writes that “diarrhea is the most common cause of death in young calves and is almost entirely avoidable by good management.” It’s often brought on by E. coli and can cause calves to develop sepsis—a sometimes deadly inflammatory response to infection.
Violence
On top of the everyday suffering endured by calves on veal farms, horrific abuse is also rampant in this industry. Undercover investigations have revealed calves being kicked, beaten, and jumped on.
Veal Facts and Statistics
Though it represents only a small percentage of meat consumption, veal is produced by a powerful global industry that runs on the abuse and exploitation of defenseless young animals.
Are antibiotics used in raising veal?
Severely overcrowded and filthy factory farms can facilitate the spread of disease, so animals raised for food often consume antibiotics with their daily food and water rations. Veal calves are no exception.
Additionally, the widespread use of antibiotics in farming exacerbates what has become a dire public health crisis by giving rise to illnesses resistant to these life-saving medications. The World Health Organization reports that 700,000 people die of drug-resistant disease every year, warning that “our food systems are increasingly precarious.”
Why is veal white?
Denied the chance to nurse, veal calves often become anemic as they consume a liquid milk replacement that the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) reports is “intentionally deficient in iron” in order to “produce the pale color” of veal meat. In other words, veal meat is not naturally white or gray, as it appears in packages on supermarket shelves. Veal meat is pale because the meat industry leaves these calves nutrient-deficient.
How much veal do people consume?
While the consumption of veal seems low when compared to meat from other farmed animals, it comes at a high price for calves. In the US, people consumed 0.2 pounds of veal per capita in 2020. In the same year, Americans consumed 96.4 pounds per capita of meat from broiler chickens and 58.8 pounds per capita of beef.
Still, by 2030, the global consumption of beef and veal is nevertheless projected to reach over 160 million pounds.
What happens to bull calves of dairy cows that aren't reared for veal?
For dairy cows, life is an endless cycle of exploitation and anguish. For male calves born into the dairy industry, the suffering is different, but brutal just the same.
Because male cattle cannot produce milk, dairy producers treat these animals as disposable—or “surplus.” Some are sold to be raised for beef, likely on crowded feedlots with up to 150,000 cattle crammed into filthy enclosures. Others—in fact, the majority—will be sold for veal. The remaining calves will be killed shortly after birth.
Can "humane veal" be a reality?
Veal production exploits female cows for their reproductive systems, separates mothers from their calves, and subjects the calves to isolation, malnourishment, and extremely early deaths.
With cultivated meats currently in development around the world, it’s possible that a cruelty- and even slaughter-free option might be available one day.
But, right now, there is no such thing as humane veal. For veal to end up on our plates, millions of mothers and baby animals have to suffer.
What you can do
Calves are powerless to stop the abuse they endure at the hands of the veal industry.
Together, we’re building a world where baby cattle have a chance to live full, healthy lives: getting nourishment from their mothers, grazing with their herds, having space to stretch their limbs, run, and thrive. Take action with us, for the calves and for the animals.
