An international group of researchers are starting to build a network to address the urgent need to improve the rearing of calves born by dairy cows but not used for replacement in dairy herds. Main issues of the network focus on animal health and welfare, environmental impact and circularity, nutritional value creation and food security, and economic value generation and societal impact and demands. The symposium on “Challenges and opportunities in dairy beef calf production“ will give an overview on dairy beef calf production systems in Europe, will highlight the main problems of the so-called surplus calves at the dairy farms in terms of animal welfare, animal health and the environmental issues and will introduce the dairy-beef production network.