The plight of dairy calves

GAIA action

To mark Valentine's Day, GAIA has released new investigation footage filmed last November on several dairy farms and calf fattening facilities in Belgium (Flanders). Our images show the isolation and deplorable living conditions of young dairy calves, considered "by-products" of the agri-food industry. While we were celebrating love on that special day, thousands of calves, forever separated from their mothers, were totally deprived of it.

5 March 2024

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No milk without veal

To maintain milk production, dairy farms repeatedly inseminate their cows. As a result, over 300,000 calves are reared and slaughtered in Belgium every year.

As the milk produced by cows is entirely destined for human consumption, calves are brutally separated from their mothers a few hours after birth. This separation and loss of bonding can cause intense emotional pain for both cow and calf. It is not uncommon to observe mothers searching for their calves, mooing in distress for several days.

While most of the female calves become dairy cows, the males are transferred to fattening facilities for meat production.

Locked up alone, far from their mothers

Our footage shows the cramped, individual huts in which calves recently torn from their mothers are placed. These huts, when outside, can take the form of plastic igloos surrounded by a metal fence. This forced isolation is a source of stress for calves, which are playful and social animals.

Their ordeal in fattening facilities

Two weeks after birth, calves are sent to fattening facilities. Transported while their immune systems are still vulnerable, many calves fall ill. Some even perish during this first journey.

Once there, they are placed in individual stalls barely larger than their bodies. European legislation authorizes farmers to confine these young animals individually for the first eight weeks of their lives.

Our images show individual stalls inside a feedlot. These offer the calves very little space in which to move around. Here, too, the animals suffer from their isolation, and the few interactions they can have with their fellow calves are severely hampered by fences and partitions.

Our investigation documents calves compulsively licking the bars of their stalls, a stereotypical oral behavior attributable to their early separation from their mothers.

On this farm, as on most fattening farms, the calves receive no enrichment and no straw. They are forced to walk on slatted floors (openwork floors that allow excrement to pass through). Our images show wooden slatted floors covered in dung, with slats so wide apart that the animals' hooves can get caught in them.

An unbalanced diet

Since consumers want light-colored veal (white or pink), calves are fed a diet (mainly milk powder substitutes) containing very little iron, to avoid reddening of the flesh.

As a result of their unbalanced diet and weakened immune system, many calves suffer from frequent diarrhea. Our footage reveals diarrhea-covered partitions and bars, as well as calves with heavily soiled rumps.

Crammed into group pens

After a period of individual confinement lasting up to eight weeks, the calves are transferred to group pens, in accordance with European legislation. But their living conditions are hardly improved, as four to five calves are grouped together in accommodation of just a few m² each, with no access to the outside.

Enrichment and straw are absent from the fattening facilities we filmed, as they are on the vast majority of farms. Calves are usually kept on hard slatted floors, which can lead to leg injuries and locomotion problems such as lameness.

Killed at a young age

For their meat to qualify as veal, calves are slaughtered before the age of eight months (the youngest being slaughtered as early as six months), even though they have a life expectancy of around twenty years.

While some are raised and killed in Belgium itself, others are transported abroad in overcrowded cattle trucks for fattening and slaughter. The unluckiest are shipped to far-flung destinations outside Europe, often in extremely harsh conditions.

What GAIA demands

Concerning the separation of calves from their mothers

In Belgium, calves are currently separated from their mothers at birth. GAIA calls for calves to be allowed to remain with their mothers until at least three months of age.

Concerning transport

Calves are currently transported to collection centers within two weeks of birth. GAIA asks that this transport take place as late as possible, at the earliest at the age of three months.

Concerning housing

Calves are currently kept in individual stalls for up to eight weeks. GAIA asks that calves always be housed in groups, with access to the outdoors (pasture) adapted to their ethological needs.

Other farming practices are possible

In Norway and Sweden, many organic farmers allow their calves to stay with their mothers for a period ranging from one to thirteen weeks. In the Netherlands, some farmers let their calves stay with foster cows for a few weeks or even months.

Alternatives are available

GAIA is also releasing this footage to encourage consumers to turn away from veal and dairy products in favor of plant-based alternatives.

Today, supermarkets and other food outlets offer a wide variety of plant-based milks, yogurts and cheeses. It is now easy to replace dairy products with their plant-based equivalents, without compromising on taste pleasure.