Re: Cattle Culling at Le Tour de France

On 7/25/2025 7:45 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:

Roger Merriman <roger@sarlet.com> writes:
 

Radey Shouman <shouman@comcast.net> wrote:

Roger Merriman <roger@sarlet.com> writes:
>

zen cycle <funkmasterxx@hotmail.com> wrote:

"Tour de France organisers have edited what was set to be an enthralling
day in the Alps to avoid cow culling taking place near the stage 19 route.
>
The discovery of a contagious disease amongst cattle has meant the route
will be shortened from 129.9km to just 95km with two climbs – the 11.3km
Cote d’Hery-sur-Ugine and the 13.7km Col des Saisies – removed.
>
An outbreak of nodular dermatitis meant the affected herd has needed to
be culled and race organisers have taken the decision to divert the
route in light of “distress” amongst those farmers concerned."
>
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cycling/stage-19-route-map-today-tour-de-france-2025-cows-b2795826.html
>

>
Ah I shall watch later today probably the catch-up though depending on how
much shorter might watch the entire show.
>
My brain finds watching sports more exhausting than doing said sports!

>
Can't be half as exhausting as having to kill all your cows.
>

>
I suspect it’s more expensive and worrying depending on the level of
government support, in my experience hill farming isn’t a particularly
lucrative, nor has it ever been so.

 Not sure I take your point.  Imagine spending a good part of your life
trying to build something up, in this case, a herd of cows.  Doing
whatever you can to nurture, protect, and improve them.  Sure, they're
made of beef, and one would have to be quite sentimental to let one get
old, but they live and breathe and grow on a person.
 Then, for reasons (perhaps good, I don't know), you have to kill them
all and dump them in a pit.  I think that might just put me in a bad
mood, government support or no.
 

+1
Long history of that, from the swine flu culls of the 1920s down to today. The compensation still leaves farmers very short and as you note bereft.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971