The following is an extract from Marianne Landzettel’s new book, The Sustainable Meat Challenge: How to graze cattle, slaughter humanely and stay profitable. Here, Marianne writes about the experience of a number of farmers in Germany, who discuss the most humane methods for handling and slaughter, on pasture and amongst the herd.
A good life and death within the herd
Farmer Herbert Siegel had already found a way to slaughter his animals on farm, but the new EU framework and the guidelines issued by the state of Bavaria has made things easier. He has a herd of about 60 beef cattle, most were born on one of his pastures. He works with a trained hunter who knows the animals and they know him. That allows him to shoot from a very short distance. In the past, once the animal had been shot, there was a narrow time frame to sling a rope around the hind leg and winch the animal up so that it could be bled out in the slaughter box. The new EU framework and the guidelines by the state of Bavaria allow for the bleeding out of the animal in a lying position. For transport to the abattoir, Siegel uses a very simple slaughter box. It is a steel box with a lid and a grid onto which the animal is placed. Bavaria allows one hour for transport without cooling; in other states farmers have two hours.
On pasture, slaughter involves additional costs: for the hunter, for the vet who has to be present and for the butcher who has to sever the carotid artery of the animal. Siegel is lucky, his brother is a butcher and a community owned abattoir in the village of Seltmans is just seven kilometres away. In Bavaria in the 1990s, many butchers and small abattoirs in need of investment closed down. In Seltmans, 256 farmers from several villages came together and pledged to contribute financially to the building of a new facility, a statement of intent that meant the State of Bavaria would cover a large chunk of the overall costs.
Today, the abattoir is used regularly by 30 to 40 farmers. The only employee is a caretaker who is responsible for the upkeep of the building and for organising the schedule; farmers have to book the facility and bring their own butcher or team of butchers for slaughter and/or processing. The farmer members still pay a small annual fee, based on the number of cattle they keep. In this area, too, butchers are hard to find, but Siegel knows of several apprentices and within a 50 kilometre radius there are still six or seven abattoirs, he says.
Once the sides of beef have been hung in cold storage for two weeks and the cuts have been matured in special ripening boxes, Siegel posts online that he has meat for sale. Customers place their orders and collect them at the abattoir on a given day. Prices are ‘mid-range’ for organic meat, says Siegel; he wants organic meat to be affordable for anyone, not just rich customers. “The real problem is that customers only want steaks and a few other cuts. I can only sell about half of the meat that could be used.” For him, keeping beef cattle and slaughtering it humanely does not create enough income, he also runs a small car tire business in order to make a living.
Vets, farmers, butchers and animal rights experts agree: killing animals on farm, on pasture, among the herd and with a rifle is the most humane form of slaughter possible. But even under the 2021 EU framework, only animals that are out on grass year-round and not housed, not even in winter, may be slaughtered using a rifle. Animals that are housed over winter, or dairy cattle which may be indoors for calving can be slaughtered on farm, but they have to be fixated and stunned with a bolt gun.
Mechthild Knösel farms near Lake Constance and spent years trying to find a solution for on-farm slaughter. Knösel keeps ‘Schweizer original Braunvieh’, a sturdy dual-purpose breed originating from neighbouring Switzerland – the border is just a few miles away. The farm is part of Hofgut Rengoldshausen. The estate was founded in 1932 and has been run according to biodynamic principles from the beginning. It is now owned by a trust, overseeing educational facilities, research, and biodynamic seed breeding. The land is leased to several farmers who run independent businesses, producing fruit and vegetables, eggs and chicken. Mechthild Knösel runs a dairy herd and twice a month an animal is slaughtered for meat. She farms 220 hectares, of which 100 hectares are permanent pastures. The arable land is farmed in a multi-year rotation including fodder crops such as lucerne, grains and vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, beetroot and parsnips.
Knösel was born in Hamburg and initially wanted to train as a nurse. In the end, she felt she didn’t want to spend her life caring for sick people, but rather look after healthy, living, growing things. Going into farming seemed like an obvious career choice. She did an internship at Hofgut Rengoldshausen, became an apprentice, and after several years of managing different farms, took her exam as a master farmer. She didn’t necessarily intend to come back to Rengoldshausen, but in 2008 a farm position became available and she and her husband decided to take it.
In most dairy herds, conventional as well as organic, separating the calves from their mums shortly after birth is common. For Knösel, humane handling of animals begins at birth. She dreaded having to listen to newly separated cows and calves calling out to each other for hours on end, and she was one of the first farmers in Germany who decided to stop the practice. Two weeks before their due date, the pregnant cows join the mother and calf herd. In summer, the 62 cows within the herd give birth on pasture, in winter they are moved to a spacious calving box with deep straw bedding in the barn. All new mums stay there with their calves for at least two days until they have properly bonded. Only then will they return to the mother and calf herd. The calves stay with their mums for three months and are allowed to drink as often and as much as they like. Twice a day, cows and calves return to the barn. While the cows are being milked, the group of calves waits in a special pen with deep straw bedding.
After 12 weeks the calves naturally spend most of their time with their peers. They remain in the ‘kindergarden’ area of the barn and enjoy time with their mums twice a day when they come in for milking.
The Sustainable Meat Challenge: How to graze cattle, slaughter humanely and stay profitable is available to purchase at any good book store.
