Farmer puts cow in nappy in protest

EU directive bans fertilizers on high hills to prevent water pollution

A farmer in Germany has wrapped one of his cows in a nappy to protest an EU directive designed to stop manure polluting waterways.

Johann Huber and the Bavarian Farmers Union (BBV) wanted to highlight the “impracticality” of the directive banning fertilizers on hills with a gradient of more than 15 per cent to stop the manure from leaching into rivers and streams. They say the order will hit grazing of livestock and prohibit fertilization of slopes.

BBV president Anton Kreitmair said a ban on using these pastures would decimate local agriculture. “In Bavaria, no fertilization would be possible on half of the cultivated areas and 10% of the meadows and arable land could no longer be managed in the future.”

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014