Veal animal age4/9/2023 ![]() ![]() We had a vague notion that we would direct market grass-fed beef but didn’t have a definite plan in place. The bull calf (“Jacob”) was earmarked for beef and the heifers were added to the herd. Those four cows gave us three heifers and a bullock. We purchased our first cattle – four bred Irish Dexter cows and one weanling bull – in the fall of 2011. Veal is not an enterprise for every farmer or every farm, but for those whose local markets present even a modest demand it is surely something worth considering. Limited though it is, I believe that we have learned a great deal in a short amount of time, and I hope that the information presented here can be useful and profitable, or at least interesting, to those who read it. What follows is the story of our own experience in veal production and marketing. It is for these reasons that we call this “Milk & Meadow Rosé Veal.” They are never fed grains, nor do they receive growth hormones or antibiotics. They spend their days as part of the cowherd, nursing from their mamas, cavorting with their fellow calves, and grazing on lush grasses and clovers at their leisure. Our calves are unconfined, and are born and raised on pasture. ![]() We, however, use a more extensive method. ![]() Some rosé veal producers rear their calves in batches, housing them in open sheds on deep straw bedding, away from their mamas, and feeding them on milk or milk replacer, hay, and sometimes grain. Here at Providence Farm, we produce what is referred to as “rosé veal,” though we aim to make clear that not all rosé veal is the same. Tenderness is a result of age – though the lack of adequate freedom of movement certain amplifies it – but the pale meat is nothing but the result of anemia, as these calves are not allowed complete and balanced diets. The purpose of this was to keep the meat tender and pale, the hallmarks of “good” veal. Veal has never been a commonly consumed meat, and what little popularity it had dropped dramatically when it became known that conventional veal production paradigms involved confinement rearing, often in crates too small to allow the calves room to turn around. Within this simple definition are a host of subcategories, with variations based on age of the calves at slaughter – anywhere from a few weeks (“bob veal”) to around 10 months or so – and rearing methods. “Is it a certain cut of beef?” “Isn’t it, like, lamb?” “So, this is deer meat?” (“No, that’s called ‘venison.’”) Or perhaps the perfectly straightforward, “What is veal?” At its very simplest, veal is meat from calves, or young cattle. Its uncommonness is perhaps best demonstrated by the variety of questions we get regarding it. Veal is a meat that is infrequently eaten and difficult to source. A Guide to Raising and Marketing Rosé Veal ![]()
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