Austria: fewer animal transports due to mobile slaughtering

In Austria's parliament, politicians from the conservative-green coalition government have tabled amendments to allow mobile slaughter of livestock anywhere on farms.

Tests were carried out with this in several Austrian cantons in the past year. They have been so successful that it can now be done anywhere. To this end, some hygiene laws for small farms must now be amended.

“With this legislative initiative, we ensure less animal transport and less stress for farm animals before and during slaughter. In this way we increase animal welfare and create new sales channels for farming families, ”says ÖVP agricultural spokesperson Olaf Strasser.

In the cantons of Upper Austria, Styria and Tyrol (partially) mobile slaughterhouses are already in use. For the first time in Austria, low-stress slaughter will be made possible throughout Austria.

In addition, there will be a regulation for slaughtering in the familiar living environment of the cattle, such as on the pasture, in the run or at the feeding station. - on the example of Switzerland. This also includes slaughtering in mobile slaughter installations, which, for example, has also been permitted in neighboring Germany for quite some time.

A pilot project for mobile slaughter installations was recently presented in the Austrian federal state of Oberösterreich. A large number of Bio Austria farmers have long asked for a legal regulation for an animal-oriented, stress-free slaughter in the familiar environment.

Bio Austria hopes that the animal welfare-based pilot project will set an example and other federal states will follow the example of Upper Austria. Ultimately, a national, statutory regulation can be created that makes the stress-free slaughter possible in the familiar environment.

The mobile slaughterhouse phenomenon is not entirely new in the Netherlands either. Slachthuis Dokkum started a year ago with a mobile slaughterhouse for cows. They focus on animals that may not be transported alive, but are still fine for slaughter. Now these animals are removed and destroyed, while the meat can still be consumed perfectly. Their slaughter trucks can also be used for animals that have always lived in the wild.

In the Netherlands, agricultural and nutritionist Ruud Pothoven and his company Innohow already carried out a feasibility study into the possibilities of mobile slaughter in the Netherlands seven years ago.

“The time was not yet right then, but now many more small-scale and sustainable pig farms have been added. And it also helps that mobile slaughterhouses are active in EU countries such as Germany, Sweden and France. The experiences there are positive. Legislation and technology are no longer in our way either, a slaughterhouse on wheels is allowed and possible ', he said recently'