Pasture slaughter: Is this still animal welfare?

The last day in the life of a pasture animal can end stress-free after the next ten years.

The farming couple Claudia Wanger and Nils Müller have achieved their goal after six years of struggling for approval, thanks to major personal investment and with the support of FiBL and the Four Paws Foundation: they retain responsibility for their animals right to the very end – the fatal shot.

For farming couple Claudia Wanger and Nils Müller, species-appropriate livestock farming absolutely includes the option of alternative slaughter concepts such as pasture slaughter. Since 2013, they have been campaigning with the support of friends and organisations for the legal recognition of this animal-friendly, low-stress method. With success: on 5 December 2018, they received the ten-year legal permit for pasture slaughter on their farm.

Local craftsmanship is promoted

During the years-long struggle with the authorities, the farming couple was supported by Eric Meili, livestock husbandry consultant at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL. «Species-appropriate pasture farming of cattle can now be carried through to its logical conclusion», says Eric Meili. «Pasture slaughter also creates a new market niche. A team made up of a farmer, a butcher, a hunter and a local slaughterhouse brings meaningful work back to the countryside.»

Farmer Nils Müller is also convinced that pasture slaughter can open up new prospects for many farmers: «Innovative methods, high-quality products and work that is valued by consumers – that is where the future of Swiss agriculture lies. We cannot rely exclusively on a system with a few large slaughterhouses.»

Animal suffering is reduced to a minimum

«For us, it is important that animal suffering is significantly reduced through pasture slaughter. Animal welfare should not end at the pasture fence, but be ensured until the end of life. We believe that the pasture slaughter project is groundbreaking. More and more consumers worldwide are rejecting intensive industrial farming and ethically questionable products. With this project, Switzerland has a great opportunity to become a pioneer in animal and consumer protection.«

Sabine Hartmann, Director of the Science Division of the Four Paws Foundation

Pasture slaughter at the «Zur Chalte Hose» farm

An individual bovine is shot on the pasture in the presence of the herd. The rest of the herd remains calm even after the shot. The animal is bled out on the spot before being gutted and butchered at a nearby slaughterhouse. Experience gained from 31 slaughters to date shows that the method works flawlessly in terms of animal welfare and food safety. Pasture slaughter eliminates the enormous stress caused by separation from the herd, transport, unfamiliar surroundings, and finally the restraint required for the bolt shot. Less stress immediately before and during the slaughter process always means improved meat quality as well.

Without the initial support of the two pioneers from Germany, Ernst-Hermann Maier of the Uria-Hof and Gerd Kämmer of the Bunde Wischen cooperative, the project would not have progressed so far so quickly. Thanks are also due to the animal welfare organisation Four Paws, which funded both the legal clarifications and the scientific advisory work by FiBL for the pasture slaughter project. Gratitude also goes to the Foundation for the Animal in Law, the Schlachtlokal Küsnachter Berg und Umgebung, the mobile butcher Patrick Föllmi, who has been involved from the very beginning, and the Veterinary Office of the Canton of Zurich.

Note from IG Wild beim Wild

Go vegan – therein lies the future of common sense. Meat can never be a high-quality product, as countless studies have shown. Today, meat serves only gluttony and profiteering. The word animal welfare is clearly being misused here, because pasture slaughter does not protect any animal from an unnatural and premature death — which is not species-appropriate, but a crime. («On day X, Müller and Wanger release the “slaughter-ready” young cattle, aged 18 and 22 months, up to 15 animals, into the paddock. The cows and calves remain in the pasture or in the forecourt. Müller does not know in advance which animal he wants to shoot. He spontaneously decides on the one that is in a suitable position for the shot, as it must penetrate frontally into the skull«).

Meaningful work looks different. Killing more beautifully is animal welfare for animal exploiters.