Effects of cow-calf contact rearing on growth, activity, post-mortem muscle metabolites and technological meat quality of male dairy calves

Dairy farming primarily focuses on milk production, and surplus male and non-replacement female calves can pose ethical and economic challenges. Rearing these calves for veal or beef production provides an alternative. This study compared artificial rearing (AR; early dam-calf separation) and cow-calf contact (CCC), which differed in cow-calf contact, milk provision, weaning strategy, and housing, to evaluate growth, physical activity, post-mortem muscle metabolites, and technological meat quality in male dairy calves (AR, n = 7; CCC, n = 6). Calves were euthanised at 170 ± 7 days of age. CCC calves had higher muscle citrate synthase activity (p = 0.002) and glucose (p = 0.047), whereas lactate did not differ. CCC meat had higher pH of thawed muscle (p = 0.016) and lower redness (a*; p = 0.002), while other technological traits were unaffected. Growth trajectories differed between systems, but final body weight prior to slaughter was similar between groups.