Table D.3: Summary of welfare consequences, ABMs, hazards and preventive measures in systems keeping veal calves in small groups with milk feeding by bucket/trough

Welfare consequence	ABM	Hazard	Preventive or corrective measures of the hazard
Inability to perform exploratory or foraging behaviour	Tongue rolling Non‐nutritive oral manipulation Tongue flicks	Barren environment Concentrated diets Low frequency of feeding	Provide relevant enrichment, e.g. rubbing fixtures (brushes), enrichment objects, bedding Increase fibre content of diet to increase foraging Make animals work for their feed, e.g. straw rack, and increase feeding frequency Provide access to an outdoor area and pasture
Inability to perform sucking behaviour	Sucking of pen fixtures Cross‐sucking Loss of hair and inflammation of skin in the muzzle/ears area	Offering milk in open buckets or a trough Removing teat buckets too soon after the milk ration is ingested Breed Weaning strategy e.g. too early weaning, too low intake of solid feed	Rear calves with their dam or a foster cow, i.e. allowing the calves to suck milk from an udder Offer the milk via a teat, for instance in a teat bucket rather than via a bucket. Leave the teats with the calves for approx. 20–30 min after the milk is drunk to reduce cross‐sucking Gradual weaning off milk
Inability to chew and ruminate	Tongue rolling	Limited solid feed structure (e.g. concentrates) Restricted solid feed amount Low frequency of feeding	Provision of roughage for ad lib intake ideally in a long format
Respiratory disorders	Coughing Nasal and ocular discharge High rectal temperature Respiratory sounds at lung auscultation	Overstocking and large groups sizes Close proximity in the same room of calves originating from different farms and sharing the same air space	Avoid stress‐inducing events, such as long and repeated transport Avoid contact between calves from multiple farm origins Ensure appropriate ventilation to avoid high ammonia or dust concentrations Limit group size and overstocking Maintain stable groups of similar age and size
Gastroenteric disorders	Abomasal lesions Ruminal plaques Rumen underdevelopment	Milk replacer‐only diets Abomasal overloading Coarse roughage Little water provision Concentrate diets with small particle size and low abrasive value High concentrate/fibre ratio Commingling of many animals from different origins (for diarrhoea linked to infection)	Feed milk in multiple (> 3) smaller meals with a teat allowing for normal extension of the neck. Diet with a high concentrate/fibre ratio Provide ad libitum access to solid feed structure. Minimise the mixing of animals from different farms.
Resting problems	Number of lying bouts Time spent in lateral recumbency (H, L)	Slatted floor of wood or concrete Low space allowance Low or high temperature	Provide bedding or, if not possible, slats with a rubber cover Provide large space allowances Group housing during winter can reduce cold stress and promote adoption of relaxed lying postures for resting Appropriate temperature and humidity to provide suitable thermal comfort
Metabolic disorders	Haemoglobin concentration (H, H)	Low iron content in the diet	Provision of diet with a high iron content Provision of ad libitum hay
Group stress	Aggressive interaction with physical contact	Low space allowance in general and especially at trough Open trough and no individual feeding place during milk feeding (no fixation) Repeated regrouping	Individual feeding places with a possibility to fixate calves during milk feeding avoid competition for milk This also makes regrouping due to different speed of drinking milk unnecessary and stability of groups is eased. Regrouping should be avoided as far as possible. Sufficient space for lying enables synchronous resting of calves (Færevik et al., 2008)