Dairy farmers across Central Europe are deploying costly cooling measures to protect herds from extreme summer heat, even as a sharp decline in wholesale milk prices pushes many operations below breakeven.
In the Czech Republic's Pardubice region, producers are cooling cattle with fans and water sprinklers to maintain output. Klas Nekoř, one agricultural enterprise, invested 3.5 million koruna in ventilation systems. The spending comes at a difficult moment: farmgate milk prices have dropped roughly 25 percent to between 9.60 and 9.65 koruna per litre, while production costs exceed 11 koruna.
In Germany's Wetterau district, temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius cost farmer Marcus Geck one cow that had just delivered twin calves. Geck purchased additional feed from another farmer to compensate for a corn harvest expected to be sparse due to extreme drought. The Hessian Farmers' Association said it does not expect special drought-relief aid from authorities.