I wouldn’t go that far. Birds aren’t exactly the “ooo fun play with me” type.
When its done right they don’t seem to notice. They’ll gather up with the same level of enthusiasm and reactions as they would were you tossing food out to for them to peck at.
And crates have long been banned in the EU. The US veal industry association finished their voluntary abandonment two years ago. Though there are apparently non-members still doing it. Its been kinda hard to find crate veal without looking at imports from specific places (like Latin America apparently) for a while.
Most veal in the US, and even in Europe, though crate free is still “milk fed”. Younger animals that haven’t been weaned.
Pink/rose/red veal comes from older animals that are currently weaning. So they’re still eating milk but also grazing. Crateless milk fed isn’t neccisarily any less humane than pink veal. But the older ones produce much tastier veal. And as currently pitched it basically requires pasturing to some extent.
Pretty much all veal comes from male dairy calves, even the crate stuff. It’s just the most readily available, cheapest source of appropriate animals. It’s just that not many of them get used for veal in the US because there isn’t much market for veal thanks to the reputation the crates created.
