Rosé Veal – Goodbye to Export

As passionate farmers, we strive to ensure our animals feel comfortable and have a good life on our farm. The topic of “calf transports and exports” has been on our minds for some time now – Austria imports a lot of veal, even though there would be enough calves available within Austria itself. Many of the calves from Austria have so far been sent for export, and long calf transports were imminent.

The Salzburg Cattle Breeding Association has now launched a new project to find domestic sales channels for dairy calves (such as Holstein and Red Frisian on our farm). We truly hope that this initiative will gain traction for Austrian businesses – whether farmers, restaurateurs, or retailers. This product aims to offer the gastronomy sector a regional alternative for this special type of veal, thereby reducing calf exports and, consequently, long transport routes abroad.

As a farmer, I find this project good from several perspectives, and we have decided to participate:

• fewer calves going abroad,

• no long transport routes for the calves, as they are raised domestically (primarily in Lower Austria)

• and consumers receive high-quality meat with traceable origins and excellent meat quality.

• The trend that veal must be “white” (calf fed purely with milk) is stagnating, and that’s a good thing. If you want to meet animal welfare standards, every calf needs not only milk but also hay, dry feed, concentrated feed, water, etc. – this way, the calf is fed a varied diet, and the meat gets its natural “rosé” color.

Since we cannot keep all the bull calves born on our farm for our own needs, we decided to participate in this project and are delighted that the animals can remain in Austria.

Our son Matthias recently opted for the “ad libitum” feeding system, which mimics a cow’s natural feeding behavior. This means the calves get as much milk as they want, whenever they want. It’s the same system as with their mother cow. The milk is acidified to a pH value of 5.5, and the calves help themselves whenever they please. This also helps minimize the risk of diarrhea in calves, as they rarely drink large quantities at once. For the rosé veal project, the ad libitum feeding has the advantage that the calves develop better, as they decide when and how often they drink, which can increase their daily weight gain.

We look forward to your feedback or thoughts on this project.

Katharina Schwaiger from Zittrauerhof in Gastein