2025/11/07 by Bastien, Didier, Briand, Philippe, Lefoul, Virginie +12
#extérieur #housing #innovation #logement #mode de production #outdoor #production method #veal calves #viande de veau
paper · doi:10.17180/ciag-2025-vol107-art07
The RenouVeau project aimed to explore various innovative veal production methods, focusing on housing and feeding practices to meet new societal expectations. Consumers, animal welfare NGOs, and agriculture students were consulted to gain insight into their vision of veal production in the future. The main expectation from these groups is to provide animals with outdoor access. As a result, different veal production systems that include outdoor access were tested on an experimental farm. Observations showed that calves actively use this new space and move around more compared to actual indoor systems. However, abnormal behaviours are still present, and providing straw bedding significantly increases straw consumption. Carcasses and meat produced in these new systems are more coloured (redder) which creates challenges for product marketability. All project results have been widely disseminated, including a final webinar available at https://idele.fr/renouveau/publications/.