Housing system
Veal Crate / Tether
Veal calf confinement
What it is
An individual crate, or a tether fixed to one spot, holds a veal calf in one place through rearing, limiting how far it can move and whether it can reach another calf. Dimensions differ, and so does what is legal: the narrowest crates leave the calf almost no movement at all.
Where it sits in the system
Intensive veal production is built around holding each calf in a fixed space. Confinement makes movement, contact, and feeding uniform and easy to control.
Welfare concern
In the narrow crates and tethers this term covers, the calf cannot turn, walk, or touch another animal; roomier modern systems restrict less, but the calf is still held in a space someone else decided. Barren surroundings, an unsuitable diet, and isolation each add their own burden on top of the confinement.
Worth being precise about
The term covers historical narrow crates and modern systems with different dimensions, and the older narrow crates restrict movement most severely. Legality varies by jurisdiction, and a calf hutch is not automatically a veal crate.
