Netherlands: Older German calves are stronger and more vital

Since 1 January, German dairy farmers are only allowed to have calves leave their farms when they are at least 28 days old. This means that German calves arriving at Dutch veal farms are two weeks older than before. Those fourteen days make a lot of difference. "We see that German calves are now on average 8 to 10 kilos heavier," says Onno Hidding. He is head of veal farming at the Pali Group, one of the larger players in the veal calf sector. “The higher weight makes them stronger and more vital. What we experience, for example, is that the calves walk better and more easily, at the collection center and on and off the truck.” The Germans also drink smoothly. Veal farmers were somewhat concerned about this. ‘In Germany they often use teat buckets. The fear was that after that longer adjustment period, switching to drinking from a trough would be difficult. That was not that bad. More than 95 percent of the calves drink smoothly when they arrive at a Dutch veal calf farm. "A ...