By Dilyana Slavova, National Coordinator, member of the EESC
The idea behind the ‘Save the Cow’ initiative emerged a long time ago, but its implementation has only been made possible quite recently. In Bulgarian mountain areas, it is not uncommon for elderly people to no longer raise and slaughter their animals. To support older and rural adults, the Mountain Milk association supports them in finding new owners for their animals. It is not always easy to find young farmers willing to keep them on their small farms because most animals are old.
Rescuing a cow and benefiting from quality mountain dairy products
To give these animals a second life, the association found an alternative and innovative system. People can raise money individually or collectively to buy a cow, depending on their ability to farm cattle, their motivation and their daily need of dairy products.
The Mountain Milk association identifies older adults willing to sell their cows in small mountain communities, finds potential owners and helps negotiating the price. The new owners of the cows can of course raise the animals on their land, but it also happened that people from cities were interested by the initiative. In that particular case, “we found a good owner to receive and raise the animal. The milk was processed into a certified dairy factory and the cow’s owners could benefit from their animals’ dairy products. For instance, in the village of Smilyan, the cow owner receives, through a selected supplier, a certain amount of sustainable dairy products such as various types of yellow cheeses, butter, cottage cheese and yoghurt – every month for 3 years”, explains the President of the organisation, Milkana Yordanova. There is an interest in the endeavor; so far, 6 cows of the Bulgarian Rhodope cattle breed, which is traditionally bred in this part of the Rhodope Mountains, have been rescued.
Mountain cows give tastier milk. Mountain milk does not have the same taste and quality as milk from plains or from industrial farms. The proportion of fat and protein is higher in mountain milk. The quality of mountain milk relies in the nature of feed for cows: mountain pastures and meadows. Cows regularly move from one pasture to another so that they always get fresh food, but it also enables pastures being restored naturally. Meadows are also mowed up to three times a year for hay, which is used for feed in winter. Moreover, the first mowing is done after flowering and throwing the seeds. This ensures natural seed reproduction with no need to repot grass mixtures – an extremely environmentally friendly process.
A struggle to maintain and recognize mountain farming in Bulgaria
Free-range pastoralism in Bulgarian mountains maintains a natural balance in these areas between forests, pastures and meadows. If there are no animals to graze and the pastures are abandoned, they gradually become overgrown and turn into forests. This phenomenon modifies local landscapes and damages mountainous ecosystems; the progressive disappearance of meadows for instance reduces the percentage of plants to pollinate for bees. Moreover, the abandonment of mountain grasslands favors forest fires.
To fight land and farm abandonment, the Mountain Milk association is advocating for the introduction of a Family Farm status in Bulgarian mountains. In the Rhodopes, as in all mountainous areas, agricultural activity is more difficult and small farms lack resources and support. In Bulgaria, 45 to 47% of the territory is mountainous and 90% of the holdings there are small (from several square meters to 1 or 2 acres in the Rhodopes), which means that they are excluded from financial support. For the Mountain Milk association, granting a Family Farm status can help breeders to develop their farms, maintain agricultural activity in mountain grasslands and provide quality and sustainable livelihood for local communities.
Whatever European agricultural policy is implemented, what matters the most is which policies are implemented locally. Whatever focus the European Union places, the attitude of local authorities to the economy of the regions is the most important point for the President of the Mountain Milk Association.
27 January 2020
