As of: March 23, 2024, 9:00 a.m
By: Josef Gutsmiedl
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A typical Oberallgäu stable from the 1980s: For Georg Rädler in Bad Hindelang, the general handling of “the cattle”, the cow, is generally essential, not primarily tying the animal to its berth.
© Josef Gutsmiedl
Many family farms in the Oberallgäu and along the Alpine range find themselves in a dilemma: either they will give up keeping their cattle tied up in the foreseeable future and rely on a freestall stable in the future, or they are threatened with giving up livestock farming completely.
The planned new animal protection law wants to ban the tethering of cattle.
There is resistance.
Not just with the farmers.
Bad Hindelang/Allgäu – Where the “hare” goes, farmer Georg Rädler bases his personal experience on it.
He was recently recognized as a milk supplier by his dairy company for excellent milk quality.
Almost in the same breath, he was told that he would have to expect discounts on the price of milk because of the tethering he practiced.
The milk from his cows is no longer marketable under these farming conditions.
“Strange and funny,” Rädler comments on the behavior and leads the Green Bundestag member Karl Bär into the stable, followed by representatives of the Oberallgäu team of the Association of German Dairy Farmers BDM, who had invited the politician to Oberallgäu.
Bär is chairman of the Bundestag's Committee on Food and Agriculture, comes from rural Upper Bavaria and knows “how rural agriculture works,” he reports in the later discussion.
The new animal protection law is currently an important topic in the committee.
Many farmers in the region are not at all comfortable with some of the passages, especially the ban on tethered farming and combination farming.
Rädler has 15 cows - all with horns - in his stable, all held in place by steel brackets around their necks.
The animals lie quietly and are relaxed and busy ruminating.
This is normal, explains the 36-year-old farmer.
“Everyone has their own place,” he says.
If he were to open the bar, the cow would at best stand up but stay in place.
“There is no unrest, no stress in the herd.” His animals are used to being around people, and a visit to the vet is no problem.
Rädler believes that tethering does not go against animal welfare – at least in his case.
In some pens things go “round” all day because dominant animals crowd out the weaker ones and spread stress.
“But there are negative examples here and there,” he admits.
Each case must be considered individually.
It's about cultural landscape
“There can't be more animal welfare than here,” says Markus Böckler, chairman of the BDM Oberallgäu-Lindau district team, praising the Rädler family's business.
The temporary tolerance of tethering for five years announced in the draft law is too short.
Planning and building a playpen usually takes longer and is usually a financial effort.
Politicians must absolutely avoid initiating structural change in this way.
It's not just about rural livelihoods, but also about tourism, which depends on the cultural landscape - characterized by grazing livestock.
“People come for the scenery.
Because it’s so beautiful here,” adds Böckler.
“Everyone wants this landscape.
“That’s why you have to do something to preserve it!” appeals Bad Hindelang’s mayor Dr.
Sabine Rödel and the Oberallgäu district administrator Indra Baier-Müller in unison during the discussion in the Kurhaus.
The strict ban on tethering cattle leads to a structural break and causes the “Allgäu system” to falter, said the district administrator.
Cultural landscape, preserved and maintained by farmers through their work, can hardly be surpassed in terms of biodiversity, confirms Leonie Schaefer from the Oberallgäu-Kempten Landscape Conservation Association.
Without grazing cattle, the open landscape would be lost.
“We can’t do that much landscaping.”
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Wolfgang Huber from the “Nature & Culture Hindelang” association takes the same line.
If, with the end of tethered and combined farming, more farmers are forced to give up, cultural landscapes in the current sense cannot be maintained.
You cultivate labor-intensive areas and work with contractual nature conservation programs.
“A strict Arbat,” adds Rädler.
“It takes a lot of manpower,” he combines dialect with modern German to point out what rural agriculture provides, so to speak, “on the side” to make ends meet.
“There are families behind it with passion and a connection to their homeland.”
In the municipality of Bad Hindelang alone, six dairy farms have given up in the past four years, says Wolfgang Huber, outlining the situation.
Of the currently almost 60 active farmers, 15 have a free stall, 14 farms have the traditional combination system, i.e. a tied stable with a running yard in the winter and grazing in the summer.
“Many people don’t want to take the step to the playpen,” says Huber.
It's about financial aspects, but also about the limited possibilities of building such a future stable;
That requires space that many don't have.
Pasture farming is animal welfare
The Alpine Economic Association in the Allgäu AVA has been dealing with the issue of animal welfare and tethering for a long time.
“Grazing cattle means animal welfare to the highest degree,” states deputy chairman Michael Rohrmoser.
The criticized combination farming system has many advantages for the livestock and, with regular grazing, is “worth maintaining in the long term”.
He considers the new law to be unimplementable and economically unfeasible in the region.
His conclusion: “We practice sustainable agriculture, which is what politicians want.” His appeal to members of the Bundestag: “Ensure that it stays that way!”
After the comments on the planned law and the look into the stable, Bär sees a lot of need for clarification.
But he also recognizes that the issue will probably no longer be off the table in this legislative period and speaks of a “giant fight” with many players in Berlin.
The committee showed that the question of combined farming was only relevant on the edge of the Alps, but played no role in the north.
In any case, the draft must remove the clause that if the farm is handed over, the tolerated combination husbandry is forfeited and an adjustment must be made.
He, Bear, is happy to have every comrade-in-arms and hopes that common ground can be achieved.