Welfare of calves
no-firstname EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Søren Saxmose Nielsen, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Elisabetta Canali, Julian Ashley Drewe, Bruno Garin‐Bastuji, Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas, Christian Gortazar Schmidt, Mette Herskin, Virginie Michel, Miguel Angel Miranda Chueca, Barbara Padalino, Paolo Pasquali, Helen Clare Roberts, Hans Spoolder, Karl Ståhl, Antonio Velarde, Arvo Viltrop, Margit Bak Jensen, Susanne Waiblinger, Candiani Denise, Eliana Lima, Olaf Mosbach‐Schulz, Yves Van der Stede, Marika Vitali, Christoph Winckler
Abstract
/calf and fed on average 1 kg neutral detergent fibre (NDF) per day, preferably using long-cut hay. Recommendations on cow-calf contact include keeping the calf with the dam for a minimum of 1 day post-partum. Longer contact should progressively be implemented, but research is needed to guide this implementation in practice. The ABMs body condition, carcass condemnations, abomasal lesions, lung lesions, carcass colour and bursa swelling may be collected in slaughterhouses to monitor on-farm welfare but should be complemented with behavioural ABMs collected on farm.