What to do with surplus dairy calves? Welfare, economic, and ethical considerations
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The transport of pre-weaned calves can have significant impacts on their health, welfare, and productivity, as well as on the economic viability of the dairy and veal industries.
“The transport of pre-weaned calves can have significant impacts on their health, welfare, and productivity, as well as on the economic viability of the dairy and veal industries (1, 2).”
From Effect of source and journey on physiological variables in calves transported by road and ferry between Ireland and the Netherlands (2023) · cites this paper as [1]
Section 1.2 describes transport and feed deprivation as stressful for very young calves and reports dehydration and signs of disease; section 1.4 also links transport stress to disease after arrival. These passages support impacts on health and welfare, but do not establish an effect of transport on calf productivity or on the economic viability of the dairy and veal industries. Page numbers were not provided. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Research works printed but not linked: 5
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“Therefore, like in Australia and New Zealand, surplus male dairy calves are a challenge for the Irish dairy industry (13).”
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Boyle, L. A., Conneely, M., Kennedy, E., O’Connell, N. E., O’Driscoll, K., & Earley, B. (2022) · Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research · doi:10.15212/ijafr-2020-0151 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Läpple, D., & Osawe, O. W. (2022) · American Journal of Agricultural Economics · doi:10.1111/ajae.12347 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Veterinarian perceptions on the care of surplus dairy calves
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Vaarst, M., & Christiansen, I. A. (2023) · Journal of Dairy Science · doi:10.3168/jds.2022-22755 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
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“Moreover, the practice of early life killing of a healthy calf presents an ethical dilemma that is separate to scientific animal welfare implications (Haskell 2020).”
van Dijk, L. L., Siegmann, S., Field, N. L., Sugrue, K., van Reenen, C. G., Bokkers, E. A. M., Sayers, G., & Conneely, M. (2023) · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1238734 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“This trial was performed during two commercial shipments of calves between Ireland and the Netherlands in April (J1) and May (J2) 2022 using calves collected at source farms (SFs) or commercial livestock MAs.”
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Herrler, M., Chagunda, M. G. G., & Stroebele‐Benschop, N. (2023) · Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10806-023-09905-x · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“With the exception of farms using sexed semen, on average about 50% of the calves are male (Franco et al., 2014; Haskell, 2020) which contribute to the beef supply (Creutzinger et al.”
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Hendricks, J., Roche, S. M., Proudfoot, K. L., & von Keyserlingk, M. A. G. (2023) · Journal of Dairy Science · doi:10.3168/jds.2022-22752 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Most surplus calves, including male dairy calves and female calves that are not required as replacements in the milking herd, are transported early in life either to be slaughtered as bobby calves (Cave et al., 2005), or sold for veal or beef production (Shivley et al., 2019; Haskell, 2020).”
BackgroundReview: Use of assisted reproduction in seasonal-calving dairy herds
Butler, S. T., Crowe, A. D., Moore, S. G., et al. (2023) · animal · doi:10.1016/j.animal.2023.100775 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
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Solarczyk, P., Sakowski, T., Gołębiewski, M., Slósarz, J., Grodkowski, G., Grodkowska, K., Biondi, L., Lanza, M., Natalello, A., & Puppel, K. (2023) · Agriculture · doi:10.3390/agriculture13091829 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
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Animal Welfare Issues Associated with Rearing Dairy Calves in Nepalese Context
Sah, N., Kafle, K., Paudyal, S., et al. (2022) · Journal of Applied Animal Ethics Research · doi:10.1163/25889567-bja10029 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Brazilian livestock extensionists attitudes toward different fates for male dairy calves
De-Sousa, K. T., Benetton, J. B., Filho, L. C. P. M., & Hötzel, M. J. (2025) · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · doi:10.3389/fvets.2025.1448756 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
van Dijk, L. L., Siegmann, S., Bennett, P., Sugrue, K., van Reenen, C. G., Bokkers, E. A. M., Sayers, G., Conneely, M., & Field, N. L. (2025) · animal · doi:10.1016/j.animal.2025.101561 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Dairy vs. beef production – expert views on welfarePreprint
Mandel, R., Bracke, M., Nicol, C., Webster, J., & Gygax, L. (2021) · bioRxiv · doi:10.1101/2021.12.06.471462 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Bauer, K. (2021) · Epsilon Archive for Student Projects (University of Southampton)
It’s not black and white: Perspectives of Western Canadian beef farmers on dairy-beef production
Vandresen, B., Weary, D. M., & von Keyserlingk, M. A. G. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0330697
“This approach provides an additional source of revenue for dairy farmers and improves the potential of rearing these non-replacement calves for beef [11].”
Lonergan, P., Crowe, A. D., Thompson, L., et al. (2025) · Animal Reproduction · doi:10.1590/1984-3143-ar2025-0055
“…use of sex-sorted semen and in vitro embryo production—are being increasingly implemented to enhance genetic gain, improve reproductive efficiency, and mitigate welfare concerns associated with the low economic value and management of surplus male dairy calves (Ritter et al., 2019; Haskell, 2020).”
Mashood, Q., Agenäs, S., Nilsson, E., et al. (2026) · Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section A – Animal Science · doi:10.1080/09064702.2026.2737082
Base, M., Mdoda, L., Mkhize, N. R., et al. (2026) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · doi:10.3389/fsufs.2026.1897525
- Authors
- Haskell
- Venue
- OpenAgrar
- Published
- 2020-01-01
- OpenAlex
- W3090516135
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8
- FWCI
- 5.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.openagrar.de
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- OpenAgrar (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Livestock Farming and Management
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal health and immunology
- Keywords
- animal welfare, economic factors, ethical considerations, dairy farming
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