Thousands of farmers in southwestern France blocked roads and set fireplace to bales of hay Saturday to protest the culling of cows attributable to a pores and skin illness, as the federal government mentioned a million cattle could be vaccinated.
French farmers have been indignant over what they see as the federal government’s heavy-handed response to an outbreak of nodular dermatitis, broadly generally known as lumpy pores and skin illness.
On Friday, veterinarians slaughtered a herd of greater than 200 cows within the village of Les Bordes-sur-Arize close to the Spanish border after discovering a single case of the illness. Police needed to disperse indignant farmers as they escorted in a crew to hold out the culling.
Several unions have mentioned that slaughtering complete herds is ineffective, calling for blockades throughout France “to place an finish to this insanity”.
On Saturday, dozens of tractors blocked visitors, whereas others parked in entrance of public buildings, as farmers set fireplace to bales of straw and tyres.
This {photograph} reveals the blockade of farmers who protest the culling of cows because of the pores and skin illness on the A75 motorway in Severac d’Aveyron, central France on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Idriss Bigou-Gilles / AFP)
Nearly 150 kilometres of the A64 motorway between Bayonne and Tarbes had been closed to visitors attributable to blockades that started late Friday.
The authorities recorded 43 demonstrations or incidents throughout the nation, bringing collectively 2,000 protesters, with a few of them marked by clashes.
Lumpy pores and skin illness, which can’t be handed to people however will be deadly for cattle, first appeared in France in June.
‘Lifetime of labor’
The official technique to stamp out what the authorities describe as a really contagious illness has been to slaughter all animals in affected herds, and perform “emergency vaccination” of all cattle inside a 50-kilometre (30-mile) radius.
“It’s the extermination of cows and farmers,” mentioned Leon Thierry of hard-line farmers’ union Coordination Rurale (CR), who protested within the city of Briscous with greater than a dozen farmers and round 40 tractors.
“It is out of the query that within the Pyrenees we must always slaughter animals that aren’t sick, which might be wholesome, as a result of they belong to a herd from which, supposedly, a sick animal has emerged,” he mentioned.
Tractors block a roundabout throughout a protest referred to as by French farmers unions Coordination Rurale and ELB (Euskal Herriko Laborarien Batasuna) in Saint-Jean de Luz southwestern France on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Gaizka IROZ / AFP)
Around 100 farmers gathered in Carbonne positioned some 40 kilometres southwest of Toulouse, organising camp on the A64 freeway.
“They deploy riot police to kill 200 cows, however you do not see them on the drug-dealing spots!” mentioned Benjamin Kalanquin, 24, who works not removed from the farm the place the complete herd was slaughtered.
“Total slaughter isn’t the answer,” he mentioned, vowing to camp on the motorway till Christmas “if there is no such thing as a convincing response”.
“People are fed up,” added Benjamin Roquebert, 37.
“You cannot construct up a herd in 5 minutes,” added the cattle breeder and grain producer. “It’s a lifetime of labor, spanning a number of generations.”
The protesters additionally say the federal government isn’t doing sufficient to guard them.
The European Union subsequent week anticipated to signal on to a commerce cope with South America that farmers say will flood the market with low-cost agricultural merchandise that may outcompete them.
Members of French farmers unions Coordination Rurale and protesters collect outdoors Millau’s sub-prefecture throughout a farmers’ protest in Millau, central France, on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Idriss Bigou-Gilles / AFP)
“We’re struggling, we won’t eat, we won’t even make 1,000 euros a month,” mentioned one other protester, Aurelien Marti.
Vaccination
Around 70 farmers sounded their horns and set off firecrackers and smoke bombs in entrance of the agriculture minister’s former parliamentary workplace within the japanese city of Pontarlier. They hung a lifeless calf from a tree with an indication saying “Our Animals, Our Life.”
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard mentioned on Saturday the federal government deliberate to vaccinate a million head of cattle within the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie areas.
“In the approaching weeks, we are going to vaccinate almost a million animals, thereby defending farmers,” she advised Ici Occitanie radio.
Those vaccinations could be along with the million head of cattle already vaccinated since July, the agriculture ministry advised AFP.
The culls have divided farmers’ unions.
Coordination Rurale and Confederation Paysanne are united towards the widespread cullings and have referred to as for a vaccination marketing campaign.
The main FNSEA farming union helps the whole culling of affected herds.
