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How cows can protect nature in the Alps

March 1, 2026

A cow needs to give birth to a calf in order to produce milk. Female calves eventually become dairy cows themselves, while male calves are surplus to the needs of the dairy business.

https://p.dw.com/p/59bZI

Cows must calve once a year to produce milk. However, male calves are unwanted, considered waste products of the dairy industry. They’re often sent to fattening farms, mostly outside the EU. A farmer, a scientist and a butcher want to change this. Instead of sending the animals to factory farms where they’re fattened with soy or corn, the bull calves are sent to the pastures and alpine meadows of the Alps. They feed almost exclusively on what grows in the pastures - and the quality of the meat improves considerably.

 

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Exciting stories, a wide variety of topics, fascinating pictures: every day, half or three-quarters of an hour of carefully researched background reports from the worlds of politics, business, science, culture, nature, history, lifestyle and sport.