Farmers must sell or slaughter animals due to lack of feed
A wet summer in western Norway has led to a lack of feed for many farmers. This means they either have to sell animals or slaughter them.
Nortura is experiencing increased pressure on farmers who want to sell cows because they do not have enough feed, writes Nationen. If Nortura is unable to sell the cows on, they must be slaughtered.
Milk and meat farmer Sven Ivar Dybdal from Tysværvåg in Rogaland is one of those who have had little crops due to rain and who now struggle to get enough fodder for his animals. He has a total of 170 cattle and has been has put up a list at Nortura to sell 30 of them.
– So far, I’ve got bids on ten cows, but I’ve got 20 more that I would have liked to sell. If I can not sell them, slaughter is the only option, he says.
Professional and Systems Manager in Tine, Harald Volden, believes there are other solutions to feeding the animals.
– The worst option is to slaughter or sell animals, and especially young animals as then the you reduce your business,” says Volden. But Dybdal says he has tried several power feeds.
– I’ve been doing this for 25 years, so I know how things work during this kinds of situations, he says.
Odd Finnesand in Nortura region west says they so far have received about 200 cattle from farmers who have given up.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
