Table 27.

Background and assumptions of the EKE exercise on the effects of restricted space allowance on veal calf welfare

EKE components	Definitions and assumptions
Exact wording of the Specific Scenario	The welfare of male dairy calves raised for producing ‘white’ veal meat and the risks associated with individual housing, insufficient space and feed restriction (such as deprivation of iron and fibres)
Interpretation of the scenario	This Specific Scenario requires to assess three separate aspects. In this section insufficient space will be addressed
Animal category to be considered	Veal calves (from 14 days to 6 months old)
Husbandry system	White veal calf production systems
The exposure variable of interest for the EKE	Space allowance per animal (m2/calf) The larger the group of animals, the larger the shared space available in an enclosure. Both the space available per individual animal and the shared space are considered to influence locomotor behaviour
Selected welfare consequence	The welfare consequence assessed by EKE was the inability to perform play behaviour
ABM chosen for the exercise	The ABM chosen for assessing inability to perform play behaviour was ‘% total time of locomotor play behaviour during the first 3 months’. The ABM locomotor play in calves includes galloping, jumping, hindleg kicking and fast turns. The fast gait trotting may be seen in connection with play but also in other connections and is not included in the definition. The motivational basis of social play may be different from locomotor play and therefore social play was not included. Object play is rare in calves and little researched and thus not included
Unexposed population	Defined as a hypothetical group of calves of an ‘average’ breed aged between 2 weeks and 3 months, kept in an enclosure with infinite space and non‐slippery flooring (e.g. bedded flooring). It was assumed that animals were kept at full (near ad libitum) milk allowance, were additionally provided energy through feed to reach the intended growth rates (or their genetic potential for growth), and were maintained at the physiological level for haemoglobin, ensuring that play behaviour was not impaired by poor nutrition nor disease.
Highly exposed population	Defined as a hypothetical group of calves reared under a standard white veal production system, aged between 2 weeks and 6 months, kept in pens of 1.8 m2/animal (minimum space allowed in current legislation).