A study of housing conditions necessary for white veal production

Abstract

Forty-two Friesian bull calves were allocated to two treatments; the animals in one group were individually penned and fed indoors. and those in the other were penned in groups of seven under a lean-to on wooden shavings. The calves were fed reconstituted commercial milk powder for 12 weeks and were then slaughtered.The feed intake and carcass growth of the calves on both treatments were very similar, but the lean-to calves were 5 kg heavier in starved live weight at slaughter, largely because of increased gastrointestinal fill resulting from eating wood shavings. The cut-out data on the carcasses indicated similar composition for the two treatments, with the exception that the calves fed indoors had a higher proportion of perinephric and channel fat, and a slightly greater fat cover and a lower eye muscle area than the lean-to calves.Blood haemoglobin and muscle colour and pigment measurements showed that the calves were not anemic, but the m, longissimus dorsi was very pale. The necessity for anaemia in order to produce white veal of suitable muscle colour is questioned.