Organic Veal
Veal usually comes from the male dairy calf or Bob calves, mostly of the Holstein breed. The meat is delicate in flavor, firm, fine grained and of a light pink color. A good Ossobucco con Polenta, made of veal shank, and accompanied by a glass of robust Sangiovese wine, can be the perfect meal for a cold winter evening.
Organic and industrial farming methods of raising the calves differ:
In factory farms, calves are raised indoors in small individual pens and fed intensively and exclusively on milk substitutes with plenty of antibiotics added in for good measure. Herbaceous food is excluded from their diets, resulting in iron deficiency which produces the "desirable" almost white meat of most supermarket veal.
Organically raised calves are fed with their mothers' milk; fresh, whole and still warm from the cow. After the calves are two weeks old they are kept outdoors (weather permitting), untethered and in small groups of 4-8 where they have adequate space for exercise and social contact with other calves.
Calves will want to pasture when outdoors, which is only natural as grass provides iron and vitamins which they need to grow healthy.
The meat of pastured veal will not be as white as ordinary veal, but that's a small price to pay for supporting farms that raise healthy and happy calves.
Organic and industrial farming methods of raising the calves differ:
In factory farms, calves are raised indoors in small individual pens and fed intensively and exclusively on milk substitutes with plenty of antibiotics added in for good measure. Herbaceous food is excluded from their diets, resulting in iron deficiency which produces the "desirable" almost white meat of most supermarket veal.
Organically raised calves are fed with their mothers' milk; fresh, whole and still warm from the cow. After the calves are two weeks old they are kept outdoors (weather permitting), untethered and in small groups of 4-8 where they have adequate space for exercise and social contact with other calves.
Calves will want to pasture when outdoors, which is only natural as grass provides iron and vitamins which they need to grow healthy.
The meat of pastured veal will not be as white as ordinary veal, but that's a small price to pay for supporting farms that raise healthy and happy calves.
