Navel healing and calf fitness for transport

Dairy male calves are at risk of welfare compromise as they are usually transported at a very young age. The European Union has set a “completely healed navel” requirement for calf transport; moreover, a minimum age is established for longer journeys. However, this requirement has proven to be prone to misinterpretation. This study aimed to clarify what is meant by “navel healing” and to provide strong elements for reaching a consensus. The navels of 299 dairy calves (55 males, 244 females) aged 0–90 days were examined and scored 1 to 5 according to their healing status. Based on our results, a completely dry and shriveled navel (score 3) would imply a 25.5–38.0% risk of transporting too young calves. Alternatively, the presence of a scab covering the umbilical wound (score 4) would entail a 4.3% risk of transporting calves less than 10 days old and could be considered good practice for transporting calves (except for journeys exceeding 8 h). Conversely, complete navel healing (score 5) guarantees that calves that are too young are not transported; therefore, it should be considered best practice for transporting calves in general and the minimum requirement for transporting calves for journeys exceeding 8 h.