Cattle breeders in Germany are currently facing an unprecedented drop in prices. A black and white cow calf was still worth 8.49 euros in October. The price determined by an industry service emerges from a response from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Green Bundestag member Friedrich Ostendorff.
Responsible for the price decline are marketing restrictions due to the bluetongue disease, it says from the Ministry. Transport restrictions, such as to Spain, have recently caused an oversupply of female calves, which cost just under 30 euros in June.
Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) had expressed in a letter to her Bavarian counterparts doubt whether such transports are compatible with the EU Regulation. A few weeks old animals are often over 19 hours in the truck on the way. Animal welfare, according to Ostendorff, was not.
With the restrictions alone, however, the drop in prices could hardly be explained. The green agricultural expert considers other reasons more important: the cheap prices are "the sad side effect of industrial agriculture," says Ostendorff. "The intensive milk production also leads to too many calves being produced for the market."
Ottmar Ilchmann of the Association of Farming Agriculture considers the prices for a scandal: "There a calf costs less than a canary." The one-sided breeding of certain breeds only on milk yield makes their offspring for the mast uneconomical. In addition, the food supplies are scarce due to the drought. "These thin calves are often no longer considered animals, but only as damage."
