(Enrquez et?al.,?2010) did not observe an overall reduction in behavioural stress responses (i.e. to address similar requests was followed. Fifteen highly relevant welfare effects were recognized, with respiratory disorders, failure to perform exploratory or foraging behaviour, gastroenteric disorders and group stress being the most frequent across husbandry systems. Recommendations to improve the welfare of calves include increasing space allowance, keeping calves in stable groups from an early age, ensuring good colostrum management and increasing the amounts of milk fed to dairy calves. In addition, calves should be provided with deformable lying surfaces, water via an open surface and long\cut roughage in racks. Regarding specific recommendations for veal systems, calves should be kept in small groups (2C7 FGF5 animals) within the first week of life, provided with ~?20?m2/calf and fed on average 1?kg neutral detergent fibre (NDF) per day, preferably using long\cut hay. Recommendations on cowCcalf contact include keeping the calf with the dam for a minimum of 1 day post\partum. Longer contact should progressively be implemented, but research is needed to guideline this implementation in practice. The ABMs body condition, carcass condemnations, abomasal lesions, lung lesions, carcass colour and bursa swelling may be collected in slaughterhouses to TAK-071 monitor on\farm welfare but should be complemented with behavioural ABMs collected on farm. Keywords: calf welfare, veal, cowCcalf contact, individual housing, husbandry systems, iron Summary Background and European Commission’s request The European Commission rate requested the European Food Safety Expert (EFSA) to provide an independent view on the welfare of calves that reflected the most recent scientific knowledge on the topic. This mandate was received in the context of the comprehensive evaluation of the animal welfare legislation undertaken by the European Commission rate in the framework of its Farm to Fork strategy (including the Council Directive 2008/119/EC of 18 December 2008 laying down minimum requirements for the protection of calves), and of the European Citizen Initiative registered by the European Commission rate in 2018 calling for any ban on the use of cages or individual stalls in several farmed species. The mandate requested a description of the husbandry systems currently used to keep calves, and the identification of relevant TAK-071 welfare effects and of animal\based steps (ABMs) as indicators of the welfare effects. EFSA was also requested to identify hazards leading to the welfare effects and to provide recommendations to prevent, mitigate or correct them. A scientific assessment concerning this part of the request is offered as general Terms of Reference (TORs); a similar request was received by EFSA on other farmed species (e.g. pigs, broilers chickens and laying hens). In addition to the general ToRs, the mandate included TAK-071 three requests specific to this mandate: (1) the assessment of the welfare of male dairy calves raised for generating white veal and the risks associated with individual housing, insufficient space and feed restriction (iron and fibre); (2) the assessment of ABMs collected in the slaughterhouse to monitor the level of on\farm welfare, and (3) the welfare of dairy calves and the risks associated with limited cowCcalf contact. These scenarios are referred to as Specific Scenarios. The mandate specified that the animal category of interest was calves up to 6 months of age, but for the purposes of Scenario 1 the upper age limit was extended to 8 months to include animals slaughtered at an older age and marketed as veal. Further details on the background and the request received by EFSA are offered in the main body of this document. Assessment \ Husbandry systems The sources of data utilized for the identification of husbandry systems were expert knowledge and grey literature. Eleven husbandry systems to rear calves were recognized: individual housing in dairy farms; individual housing in veal farms; group housing TAK-071 of veal calves in small groups with milk feeding by bucket/trough; group housing of veal calves in large groups with automatic.