The veal calves story begins in the, inseparably linked, dairy industry. Like every other mammal, cows must be impregnated and give birth before they can produce milk. Half of the born calves are female, that are used to replace older cows in the milking herd. The other half are male, that are of no use to the dairy industry. Therefore within moments of birth, the male calves are taken away from their mothers and loaded onto trucks. The separation between a mother and her baby is always a trauma, and the bond between a cow and her calf is well known to be particularly strong. Many claves are sold through auction rings where they are subjected to transportation and rough handling stresses. The fragile animals are electrified and kicked, and when they can no longer walk to the auction ring, they are dragged by their legs and ears.

The calves that are murdered in the first days of their lives are the lucky ones.
Every year, approximately one million “less fortunate” calves, are confined in individual wooden crates measuring just two feet wide, barely bigger than their own bodies, making it impossible for them to turn around, stretch or even lie down.
The calf’s crate is a wooden restraining device, designed to prevent any movement in order to totally atrophy the calves' muscles, thus producing tender "gourmet" white veal.

In addition to the tiny crate, the calves are also chained by the neck to prevent them from turning around and licking their own urine, which contains trace amounts of iron.
It is impossible for them to find even one comfortable position to stand in.
The floor is slatted to allow urine and feces to fall through. No straw or other bedding is provided due to the fear that the calves may eat the straw, which would make their flesh darker in color. The very small crate also prevents them from grooming themselves, a very important natural act that keeps calves clean and hygienic.

The miserable young calf will spend 4 months in this torture cell.
Try to think of 16 weeks of standing with no ability to move or lie down.
Humans have to make terrible crimes to deserve these conditions in such solitary. The calves did nothing wrong.

Cattle are gregarious herd animals whose primary food in the wild is obtained by grazing. Confining calves in crates and preventing them from consuming a natural diet results in significant psychological and developmental disorders, including: frustration, stress, boredom, and abnormal coping behaviors. Some calves perform tongue-playing behavior, which may reflect a conflict or state of stress from being denied the opportunity to pluck grass.
The calves are fed a milk substitute intentionally lacking in iron and other essential nutrients, designed to cause anemia. Anemia combined with a complete lack of exercise, creates pale tender pinkish-white meat, which is desired in the finished product. Craving for iron, the calves lick urine-saturated slats and any metallic parts of their stalls.
Farmers also withhold water from the calves, who are always thirsty, thus driven to drink a large quantity of the high-fat liquid feed.
Calves, like other animals, need wholesome food and exercise to be healthy. Calves raised for veal are denied these basic needs, they suffer from various physical maladies including: abnormal gut development, physical discomfort, impaired locomotion, and a much greater susceptibility to disease.

Combination of the milk substitute and the high levels of stress cause lesions which develop into stomach ulcers. Ulceration of the abomasum (a stomach-like organ) is very common in veal.

Once or twice a day, a worker fills the calf's bucket with the milk-like substitute and the calf is getting excited from this brief change in his boring life. As the front of the crate is lifted to allow the animal to drink from the bucket, the calf gets a brief glimpse of the other calves. It is a very confusing situation. What shall he do? Eat from the bucket? (Since the calves are fed less than an adequate diet they are chronically hungry) or should he lick the fellow calf from the next crate?

Though calves are social animals, they have no contact with their moms (being abducted from them at birth) or other calves. They live with the thought that they are surrounded with fellow calves but can’t touch, groom or play with them.
This social isolation has a horrible influence on the calf’s development, physical and mental health. From a gentle and friendly creature they have become paranoid and constantly terrified.

This insane experience causes the calf to exhibit abnormal coping behaviors associated with frustration, including head tossing, air licking, head shaking, kicking, scratching, and stereotypical chewing behavior.
If you have ever seen veal calves, you know how frightened and stressed they are when someone approaches the crate. They are the most terrified creatures on earth.

Calves raised for veal suffer immensely, both physically and emotionally.
They experience leg and joint disorders, because they never exercise their muscles in the restrictive enclosures. Their bodies are sore from rubbing against the sides of their crates and lying on hard flooring without any bedding materials.

The calves suffer from chronic stress and thus require approximately five times more medication than calves living in more spacious conditions.
Due to the extreme living conditions and restricted diets, calves are susceptible to a long list of diseases, including chronic pneumonia and constant diarrhea. Consequently, they must be given massive doses of antibiotics and other drugs just to keep them alive.

When the “time for slaughter” comes, the calves are so weak that they can’t walk to the lorry. Many calves die during the journey to the slaughterhouse. Long, crowded trucks ride in roasting hot or sub-freezing weather.

In the slaughterhouse, they are yelled at, kicked and dragged. Frightened and panicked, they seek for a way out, but the workers surround them. They already know that humans are not the address for compassion.

The calves hear their fellow calves screaming, screams of horror, and they smell their blood.

Due to physiological differences, it can take more time for calves than for adult cattle to bleed to death, therefore the formal procedures in slaughterhouses may result in exceptional pain for these young animals. For some, this brutal slaughter is not the end since many are being skinned and dismembered while fully conscious.

Every year more than a million calves are going through this living hell.

Veal calf is one of many industries along with eggs, broilers, pigs, and milk, in which animals are squeezed to their edge.
Humans torture calves to satisfy their sickening lifestyle. Demonstrations, posters, banners, or even the most shocking evidence picture, did not and will not help.
No matter what you do, nothing will make humans stop.
Humans will never stop exploiting nonhuman animals “just” because it is immoral, “just” because it causes someone else pain and suffer.
The conventional way had proven wrong.
There is only one way, to end these miserable calves’ suffer.