What happens to male calves on dairy farms?

The objection

“Veal is a niche, old-fashioned cruelty. I never buy it, so it’s nothing to do with me.”

The answer

Veal is a minority taste in Britain and Ireland. Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), a farm-animal welfare charity, says very few calves are reared for it in Great Britain because demand is low [1], and Ireland’s agriculture minister told the Dáil in October 2026 that demand there is “very limited” [6]. But veal is mostly the meat of pure-bred male dairy calves [1][10], and those calves are born because of the milk, butter and cheese bought by people who would never order veal.

Why does dairy farming produce veal calves?

Dairy farming produces veal calves because a cow gives milk only after giving birth, and her male calves are no use to a dairy. CIWF says a dairy cow has to have one calf a year to give milk for ten months of it, and is usually inseminated again within three months of calving, while nearly all calves are taken from their mothers within hours of birth [2]. Most females join the milking herd, but a male can never give milk and is often thought unsuitable for beef, so the industry counts him as surplus [1][2].

What happens to male dairy calves?

Male dairy calves are sold to be reared for veal or beef, exported, or shot soon after birth [1][2], though CIWF says the number shot at birth in Britain has greatly decreased [1]. Thousands travel to veal farms in countries such as the Netherlands from as far away as Poland and Ireland [1], and Ireland’s agriculture minister said 203,000 unweaned calves, a total not broken down by sex, were sent abroad from 1 January to 27 September 2026 (a government figure), calves “highly valued by other Member States with long established veal industries” [6]. CIWF says young calves are particularly vulnerable to the stress of handling and transport, and cannot regulate their body temperature well enough to cope with extremes of heat and cold on long journeys [1]. In 2018 two animal-welfare groups, Eyes on Animals and L214, filmed unweaned dairy calves spending days on the road across Europe.

What is a veal crate, and is it still legal?

A veal crate is a stall so narrow that the calf cannot turn around, and it has been banned across the EU since January 2007 [1], while in England the law requires every calf to have room to turn around [11]. CIWF’s veal page, which carries no date, says narrow crates are still used in the US and many other countries, that many crated calves are tied by the neck and fed milk or milk replacer, usually with no solid food, to keep the flesh pale and tender, and that the lack of iron can leave them seriously anaemic; it adds that some US states have voted to ban crates [1]. The American Veal Association, the US industry body, said at the start of 2018 that all its member companies had moved to group housing with no tethers by the end of 2017, though a vet quoted on its site says calves are best kept in individual pens for their first eight to ten weeks (an industry claim) [9].

Under the EU’s calf welfare law, since 31 December 2006 no calf on a farm with six or more calves may be kept in an individual pen after eight weeks of age unless a vet certifies that it needs isolating for treatment, and calves kept with their mothers for suckling are exempt [4]. Only group-housed calves may be tethered, and then for no more than an hour at milk feeds, and feed must carry enough iron for an average blood haemoglobin of at least 4.5 mmol per litre [4]. England’s Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations 2007 likewise forbid keeping a calf in an individual stall or pen after eight weeks unless a vet certifies that it needs isolating for treatment, or tethering any calf except group-housed calves for up to an hour at milk feeds; they also require bedding for every calf and drop the word “average” from the iron minimum, so it applies to each calf [11]. Individual pens for the first eight weeks remain legal in the EU and in England, though the animal welfare panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in 2023 that calves kept in them that long suffer isolation stress, seen in heightened fear and cognitive deficits [10].

Most continental veal is still white veal [1]: EFSA put the number of white veal calves slaughtered in the EU in 2021 at about 4.08 million, against about 400,000 rosé veal calves raised a year [10]. White veal calves are slaughtered at up to eight months old after a low-iron, milk-based diet meant to keep the meat pale [1]. EU law also requires a minimum daily ration of fibrous food from two weeks of age, rising from 50 g to 250 g a day between eight and 20 weeks [4], and EFSA reported that white veal diets are mostly milk replacer and grain with a small amount of roughage, kept low in iron on purpose so the meat is pale and fetches a higher price per kilo [10]. EFSA concluded, with at least 66% certainty, that the feeding practices common in white veal farming result in anaemia, and that the legal haemoglobin minimum is well below the normal range for calves [10]. From about eight weeks the calves live in groups of up to 80, often on wooden slatted floors with no bedding required after their first two weeks [1].

Does sexed semen solve the problem?

Sexed semen cuts the number of male dairy calves born [3], but every cow still has to calve to give milk, so the herd still produces calves every year [2]. In January 2025 the farm industry body AHDB said sexed semen made up 84% of dairy semen sales in Great Britain [5], and in September 2025 the farmers’ union, the NFU, said registrations of pure-bred dairy bull calves had fallen by 69% since 2014 while registrations of dairy-beef calves had risen by 74% (industry figures) [12]. AHDB found that 60% of the calves registered to dairy cows in Great Britain in 2025 had a beef sire, and that dairy bull calves were still being registered, though 8% fewer than in 2024 [13]. Those dairy-beef calves are reared for beef [12], and like nearly all dairy calves they are taken from their mothers within hours of birth [2].