The farm’s herds are kept outdoors all year round, which guarantees better meat quality, and means they belong to the Nature and Forest Agency’s “extensive farming” plan. However, the owner says there is room for improvement when it comes to budgeting and animal welfare – for example, when it comes to slaughtering animals in the pasture.
20 Iberico pigs from Portugal live on the farm, the majority of whom were born there. They are allowed to wallow in the mud for 15 to 18 months, twice as long as regular pigs, says owner Joe Lanners, himself a pioneer of extensive farming in the Grand Duchy. His pigs and cattle live in luxury in the nature reserve around the farm until they are sold as “nature conservation meat” (Naturschutzfleesch). From one perspective, the animal welfare here is top notch, but difficult to implement.
Butchers in the country are fed up because they cannot sell the meat, with the bacon posing an issue, says Lanners. There is no real demand for pork, yet the quality is excellent. The pigs are kept in a 4.5 hectare field dotted with solar panels, in an agricultural photovoltaic system developed with Enovos. Lanners says the government should be careful not to be left behind when it comes to extensive farming. Communication isn’t working as it should, and more direct marketing would be ideal for the base products.
When it comes to the slaughter of the animals, the transport to the abattoir alone was a stressful experience for Lanners’ Angus cattle. He points to Austria and Germany where so-called “pasture shooting” is permitted, to reduce the stress and pain for the creatures.
Félix Wildschutz, head of the Luxembourg Veterinary and Food Administration, says the practice may be carried out abroad, but for the Grand Duchy’s sole slaughterhouse, it would be difficult to implement for technical reasons. It would be practically impossible to get an animal slaughtered at pasture to the production line, he explains. However, in theory the idea should work with the necessary legal adjustments. Until that point, Lanners’ pigs remain “Happy Pigs”.
Report in Luxembourgish:
