This Herd of cattle in Sayago’s Zamora district may suffer 30% cut this campaign. This farmers they have to kill some of the cows to keep the rest.
This terrible lack of food for cowsNeeding reinforcements as there is no pasture at this point in May, it’s pushing slaughtering animals to ensure the viability of the farms.
Pastures remove cattle heads to reduce stockpiling per hectare and withstand torrential rain. This affects the entire province.
“The situation is very delicate. The animals are valued, there are problems in their care, in the supply of feed and feed. We are no longer talking about high prices, there is no raw material.”
Beef producer Marcelo Mozo of Bermillo de Sayago, describes a very complex scenario for large huts. “I have 90 cows and plan to slaughter at least 20 or 25. I can take care of 60 cows on these small plots by moving them from farm to farm, but I won’t have feed to feed all the livestock. The costs have multiplied three; now it costs about 900 euros a year to even feed one cow. it turns out that what should I do with the value of this calf, instead of 15 years, after 15 years, the 12th was removed this year”.
And many farms, some of which are “clean” up to 50% of the cattle. “The trend is to keep killing because there is no bait and the prices we have are insane.” A painful but inevitable decision in a drought scenario that depletes pastures and with it the staple food of cattle.
The only way out is to send the animals to the slaughterhouse. And the next problem comes. “Inside vitigidino it takes at least three or four weeks to kill the cows,” confirms Marcelo Mozo. Almeida farmer He talks about a two-month wait for some calves to be slaughtered.
Before reaching crash states as reported in Extremadura, slaughterhouses Castilla y León begins to realize the burden of animals. “They’re sacrificing themselves to have fewer mouths to feed,” they say from the Fuentesaúco slaughterhouse, where they’re not in a state to compromise, but are “a little overwhelmed” with an increase in slaughter by about 20% above normal. All this considering that May is a month of great activity in slaughterhouses, because the reference period for CAP assistance ends on April 30 and animals are withdrawn from this date.
“At least 30% of the cattle herd has been removed in Sayago,” says Mozo. “We’re facing a year of livelihood, the farmer won’t be ruined by keeping all the cattle. You have to survive and we’ll see next year.”
The situation for dairy cattle is no more optimistic. With industrialists slashing prices with Damocles’ sword from the outset – the May contracts already have 5 cent discounts – the lack of hay, fodder and good alfalfa puts farms in more of a situation than is at stake. “If the cows drop production, they have to be slaughtered because they won’t leave you any money,” he explains. Jorge Hernández is a dairy farmer in Monfarracinos.
The lack of chaff, which is desperately sought after, is particularly troubling, with companies burning it to extract biomass. “If there is a shortage of hay, contracts with large multinationals should be suspended and priority should be given to feeding the animals. That is common sense,” Jorge argues. “Hay is essential. This is the fiber they need to feed calves, ruminants cannot function without this fiber.”
Faced with this scenario, Hernández fears the future of dairy cows after the beef cattle are slaughtered. “Now, for better or worse, you can make do with the forage in the harvested grain fields, but if the price of milk continues to drop in the same way, then August or September would be a major pullback.”
The impact of these massive victims on productive animals will not last long. Jorge Hernández predicts that “There will be no substitutes in the coming years, and then both milk and meat production will be less”. “Because there is no veal left, the price will go up. Or they will put in poor quality meat from other countries. After all, we always pay the same. The basis of the chain is the consumer. And meanwhile, the middlemen will take enough risk to make a lot of money”, says Marcelo Mozo.