In the northern Netherlands, we teamed up with veterinarian and calf feeding expert Dr. Ronald Rongen to tackle a persistent myth in the cattle sector: that feeding milk to calves in transit causes diarrhea. Most Dutch calf traders and farmers think that giving milk to unweaned calves in transit causes diarrhea, and thus withhold milk for very long periods. Together we visited different assembly centers, to open up dialogue and debunk this myth.
24 hours without milk
Transport of calves from Dutch dairy-farms to Dutch veal-farms often takes a long time, as small groups of calves are collected by truck from multiple dairy farms and then, after hours on the road, are unloaded at assembly centers, where they often stay for many hours before they continue their journey to the fattening farm. In total, transit can easily last up to 24 hours, before the calves arrive at their final destination and sometimes even more if calves hop from one assembly center to the other. During this time, the unweaned calves are only offered electrolytes, but are not given milk due to the unfounded fear of causing diarrhea. But denying unweaned calves milk for such an extended period is both unreasonable and unacceptable. It leads to serious health and welfare problems.
The problem isn’t the milk — it’s the speed of feeding
Milk doesn’t cause diarrhea in mammals. The real issue is that calves fed from buckets or rubber teats often drink far too quickly and it is this that causes diarrhea. For comparison: a calf suckling from his/her mother drinks max. 200 ml of milk per minute. From a rubber teat, that jumps to 500 ml per minute, and from a bucket up to 1 liter — so over 2.5 to 5 times faster!
If milk is given via a bucket or rubber teat with large hole opening, calves don’t suckle properly—they end up gulping down milk. As a result, they have very little time to first produce saliva, which is essential for proper digestion because saliva contains important digestive enzymes. Without these enzymes to digest the milk properly, the lining of their stomach and intestines becomes irritated leading to diarrhea.
Instead of withholding milk, the industry should focus on improving feeding methods:
- Use teats with tiny holes that mimic natural, slow suckling
- Provide warm, hygienic, good-quality milk
- Allow calves enough time to finish drinking and properly digest their milk
Feeding milk during transit pays off
A recent Wageningen study confirms the benefits: calves fed milk during transit showed improved early growth. Feeding not only reduces hunger—it also improves animal health and economic outcomes.
We hope that by sharing knowledge and encouraging dialogue, we can help improve the welfare of unweaned calves in transit. Every week in the Netherlands, 20,000 unweaned calves are traded — and thus exposed to long periods without milk. The owners of the assembly centers were open to dialogue and showed interest in our expertise. We hope that one of them will take the lead in implementing milk feeding protocols at their center.
