Drought pushes Salzburg farmers to move cattle down early

Drought is drying out fields and meadows across Salzburg, forcing some alpine farmers to bring their cattle down from mountain pastures earlier than planned, ORF reported. The shortage of feed and water is particularly visible in the Pinzgau region.

At Bräualm, an alpine pasture near Mittersill, farmer Michael Sedivy is trying to keep his herd on the mountain. He is supplementing their feed and using a tractor to transport silage bales to the pasture.

The 160 cattle include 30 pregnant cows belonging to a farmer from near Lake Starnberg in Bavaria. Their owner arranged for 20 silage bales and two large sacks of concentrated feed to be brought to Mittersill, at considerable cost.

The higher the pasture, the more visible the drought becomes. The high pasture lies at about 1,800 metres above sea level, and Sedivy has already had to close two grazing areas because of a lack of water. He said his pasture was still in a somewhat better position than those on sun-facing slopes, where water supplies are currently particularly low.

Sedivy hopes to keep the cattle on the mountain until the end of August. He is wishing for one or two weeks of steady rain, but not severe storms. Some small streams on the high pasture have started carrying a little water again after last week’s heavy rain, but supplies remain insufficient.