By Andrew Campbell
This tour about raising veal actually brings together two different farms! On the first farm Aaron will show us the milk stage of raising veal. On his farm, they have a fairly new barn that has heated floors for calves to lay on, automatic ventilation systems and a milk feeder that is used to feed calves their milk a couple of times each day. Veal calves are typically raised on milk for the first couple of months and then are weaned and transition to a grain based diet. That’s where Tom & Paul and the second farm come in! On their farm, we tour where the older calves are raised. Here they are sorted into pens based on their size and age and gradually work their way through the barn until they are 700 pounds. A lot of care and work go into raising veal and it shows with these two clean and well run farms that put animal welfare first.
What is Veal?
The male offspring of dairy cows are called bull calves. They don’t produce milk, so many are raised for meat called veal. Ontario and Quebec are the largest Canadian producers of veal because they also have the greatest number of dairy farms. Holsteins are the most common breed of veal cattle. They grow quickly, are well-muscled, and very lean.
Veal cattle are raised in group housing with other veal cattle of a similar age. They are housed in well-ventilated barns, and are bedded with straw or wood shavings so they stay clean, dry, and comfortable. Research is ongoing into many aspects of veal production, especially health and welfare of the animals.
In some parts of Canada, dairy steers (castrated bulls) are more commonly raised in feedlots for beef production. For more information, see https://www.realdirtonfarming.ca/article/farm-animals/veal-cattle
There can be negativity around veal farming. I think it comes from the perception of a dark and dingy barn, very cramped quarters where a calf wouldn’t turn around. Do you have anything like that here?
We actually don’t have any part of the barn like that. We take pride in a clean, bright barn with healthy calves.
These calves here are still at the milk stage. They are consuming about six liters of milk per day per calf. The idea is to gradually get them weaned off of milk and onto a solid feed ration. We make the milk out in this kitchen and we have a feeding cart that has a flow meter on it so we can tell exactly how much each calf is receiving. We put the milk in pails that we can place into the feed bunk, and calves get fed twice a day. They have the option to graze the corn found in the feed bunk as well.
You said they’re getting three liters twice a day . So is it once in the morning, and once at night? When are those feedings?
Their first meal is about 6:30 am in the morning and then their second meal is right around supper time, around 5:30 pm at night.
Early mornings are something you’re used to as a farmer then. After they get their milk, what are they eating in between milk feedings?
Throughout the day, the milk pails are flipped out of the way and basically it’s a solid ration. In the ration we have straight corn and some straw mixed in for some fiber to help with digestion for the calves. There is also a concentrate, made with a pelleter and it’s composed of 50% soybean meal, some wheat shorts, other protein sources as well as vitamins and minerals to help with the development of the calves.
They’ve got their milk, they’ve got feed. Do they ever get water?
Yes. All the calves have free access to water bowls all the time and it’s actually all warm water.
Why warm?
During the weaning period because the milk they are fed is warm, we try to get them used to the water a little bit easier by using warm water. They tend to take to the solid feed a little bit better if they’re used to that warm temperature.
None of these calves are mooing away. They seem quiet. Quieter than I would’ve imagined. Is that something that you want to have in a barn?
Yes, absolutely. I think you want the lowest stress environment that you can have for the calves. It is so important that we considered that alot when we designed this barn. Their flooring is all coated with a rubber coating just to help with the calf comfort. It also has heating tubes underneath, so the rubber is actually slightly warm and it’s nice for the calf to lay on as well. Temperature in the rooms is usually around 10 C. It might be -25 C and blowing snow outside, but the calves are still comfortable around 10 C inside the barn.
Now how is that controlled? Do you flip switches all the time?
No. The heaters are set on a thermostat and the heater will kick on if it drops, a degree of below our set point. The in-floor heat in the pens also helps maintain that temperature in the room.
There’s a lot of automation going on around the barn just to keep them comfortable throughout the day and night. Now in terms of what you do as a veal farmer in a day, you mentioned mixing milk. What are some of the other things you’re doing on a regular basis here in the barn?
We walk through the calves and just visually assess the calves three or four times a day, making sure that they’re healthy. We take the time to make sure that all the calves are doing well and energetic.
You said these calves are being weaned off milk. When are they going to be totally weaned off milk, and then what happens?
So typically the calves are weaned around eight weeks of age. And then they’ll go to another farm where they will grow to about 700 pounds.
We’ve left Aaron’s barn behind and now we’ve gone on to Tom and Paul’s farm here where they are finishing the veal calves. What is the process of finishing a veal calf?
Feeding grain and pellets to bring the calf to market weight. We are aiming for a calf that weighs 700 pounds.
That’s a fairly big calf. That’s not a small animal.
How old would they be at that stage?
The animals are 7-8 months of age at that stage.
What’s a typical day look like for you? What goes into taking care of these calves?
The morning starts off with checking pens, making sure all the animals are healthy. Then we’d go through and feed them. After feeding is done, we will put fresh bedding down, clean out pens and odd jobs like that. We also weigh the animals once a week.
Looking in the barn, you start the calves at one end of the barn and you just gradually move them to different pens, depending on the animal’s weight.
We seperate the calves by weight category and for every increase of a hundred pounds, there is a different feeding stage and feeding rations for them.
What changes about their diet?
The protein. We include more corn in their ration as they age.
What’s the reason behind that?
They need less protein in the final stages of growth.
For these calves, once they reach their market weight of 700 pounds, where do they go from here?
We ship them directly to Newmarket, where they are processed and then our veal is shipped mostly to Loblaw stores.
I appreciate the tour today.
Watch Fresh Air Farmer, Andrew Campbell’s full video here
