veal

thankfully, not all veal is produced in this horrific manner. if you can find it, try rose veal, or pink veal as it is usually called. in fact, in the UK, the crate system has been illegal for quite some time, so any veal produced in the UK will not have been crated. because male cows are of very limited use to the dairy industry (you don't need THAT many bulls to keep the industry going, and they usually use other breeds to improve the herd) then SOMETHING has to happen to the male calves. this is why it's a good idea to support the rose veal industry. speaking from a UK perspective here, there are three options. and by supporting the industry, we can make this a more financially viable alternative than the other two. option 1. rose veal. option 2. shot at a few days old option 3. loaded on a truck, shipped live over to a country that still allows the crated system, and living a horrible little life in a box. so really option 1 is the best. a veal calf goes to slaughter at about the same age as a lamb, so unless you don't eat lamb because of the age, then that shouldn't deter you from veal. if you look around, you may even find free range veal, which are often sold direct by the suppliers, who can be found at farmers markets. if it is not free range, then they are likely raised in a large barn. financially it's better to allow some grazing as it reduces the feed costs. they are fed a mixed diet of milk, feed and grass if they have grazing time. so you are right, crated veal absolutely MUST be avoided, but not all veal is inhumane. if you can find rose veal, try it. it is a darker meat, and has more texture and flavour, as the muscles aren't wasted away. it's very tasty, very tender and a better option for the male calves than the alternatives. it's good to be aware of the sources, production methods and ethical implications of our food. and if you use dairy products, it's worth taking some time to consider what happens to the male calves, and supporting the rose veal industry to make it the most financially viable option for the farmers.

I completley agree with you Mammots, I read somewhere that they kill the young cows at fourteen weeks old, which is no life at all. And even for those fourteen weeks they have no quality of life at all, they are confined to small spaces and treated badly. I hate to hear of cruelty to animals.

Ok, the skinned alive part is just propaganda. Skinning an animal alive would be very dangerous to the person doing it & there's a good possibility the meat would end up ruined. The pen part is true however. Many of the big cattle producers put cattle into a small pen where they can't really move except to eat from the trough that flows by at one end. The animals spend their entire lives there.