The Ministry recently issued a recommendation for mowing to be postponed in the agricultural sector in an effort to protect animals. Farmers now see themselves at a disadvantage while the Hunters’ Federation pleads for better cooperation and technical equipment. No official statistics about how many animals die each year during the mowing process are kept.
Guy Wester, president of the Bauerenzentral, Luxembourg’s largest professional organisation of farmers, vintners and gardeners, believes that the problem is being exaggerated: “The majority of farmers already try to prevent these accidents from happening. A lot is being done to avoid them.”
Farmers generally inform the local hunters’ leaseholder before mowing so that they can help clear fields of wild animals. There are several different ways of locating animals, including the use of drones with infrared cameras.
Jo Schuder, president of the Hunters’ Federation, elaborated: “Of course we need to be asked to help. When a farmer calls at 11am telling us that they will start mowing at 1pm, then it doesn’t work. And it is important to understand that equipment like drones can only be used in the morning before the sun starts heating up the entire field.”
Schuder concluded that certain farmers can still increase their efforts at cooperation. He further argued that the heavy machines used by farmers could also be equipped with infrared cameras. However, government support is necessary to finance this modernisation process.
Wester shares this view and noted that the agricultural sector is not able to cover the costs. Furthermore, the ministerial request to postpone mowing is accompanied with several problems, such as the lower quality of fodder that farmers are able to recover from their fields.
Earlier mowing guarantees better protein content in the recovered grass. However, the phase from May to July also represents a critical phase for young animals, which generally still lack the reflexes to run away at that stage in their young lives.
