Drought drives farmers to sell more livestock at Cazis auction

Farmers are selling more animals at the Cazis livestock auction as a dry summer leaves them short of feed, Swiss broadcaster SRF reports.

Some 176 animals were offered at Monday’s auction. That was not a record, but sales by the end of September were 20 percent higher than in the same period last year. Many farmers are reducing their herds because they do not have enough feed.

Felix Beeli, a farmer from Molinis, usually stores about 100 silage bales. This year he has just 34, and his silo is also largely empty. He must buy feed to get his roughly 60 animals through the winter, but says it is more expensive than usual and often lower in quality. He plans to reduce his herd. “You don’t like slaughtering animals that were actually intended for breeding,” he said.

Other farmers are facing similar choices. Stefan Battaglia, from Feldis, also has to sell animals because there is not enough feed for all of them. Niklaus Zimmermann, from Saas in the Prättigau, plans to cut his herd from as many as 25 cows to about 15. “It hurts,” he said.

Farmers say yields from meadows and pastures have fallen significantly. They do not know what conditions will be like next spring, and say rain before winter is crucial. “We hope it rains before winter comes. Without rain, nothing works,” Beeli said.

The higher number of animals is increasing the work involved in transport and marketing, while meat prices remain stable, said Albert Brühwiler, an independent livestock trader and president of the Eastern Swiss livestock traders’ association. He said every animal for slaughter is needed because domestic production does not fully meet demand.