Farmers in south-west France have been staging roadblocks over the weekend and into Monday in a stand-off over containment measures for the contagious cattle illness Lumpy Skin Disease.
Read the latest: French farmers plan more roadblocks on Monday in cull protest
What is the illness?
Lumpy Skin Disease (dermatose nodulaire contagieuse or DNC in French) is a viral disease that affects cattle, spread by biting insects such as flies and mosquitoes.
It was first reported in France in June in Alpine areas.
Also in June, Italy confirmed the first outbreak of lumpy skin disease in Sardinia, followed by a secondary outbreak in Porto Mantovano (Lombardia). Meanwhile, in October 2025, Spain reported its first outbreak of disease on a breeding farm in Catalunya, near the French border.
Both Italy and Spain are also practising culls combined with vaccination to try and contain the disease.
What is the government's plan to tackle it?
The French government’s containment strategy has been a three-pronged approach of halting cattle movement, vaccination and culls.
This involves the slaughter of affected herds, restrictions on the movement of cattle within an infection zone and emergency vaccination within a 50-kilometre radius around outbreak sites.
According to the agriculture ministry, an additional one million cattle will now be vaccinated across eight south-western departments designated as regulated zones, on top of the million already treated, at a cost of €20 million.
On French radio Europe 1, Quentin Le Guillous, secretary general of the Young Famers (JA) said that compensation starts at “€2,000 per cow” killed, and that state aid is available to cover farmers' losses after that.
What do the farmers want?
It's worth noting that farming unions themselves are divided on this issue.
Some follow the official recommendations regarding the neutralisation of the affected herds and vaccinating the remaining animals while others advocate for intermediate measures that are less destructive for livestock farms.
The largest union the FNSEA, as well as by their main allies Jeunes Agriculteurs support the culling of herds - although some local members of the JA are calling for an end to mandatory and widespread slaughter.
However the smaller farming unions Coordination Rurale and the Confédération Paysanne - whose members are largely drawn from the cattle farmers of southern France - oppose the measures.
They consider the slaughter of entire herds to be “ineffective” and will inflict practical and psychological damage on farmers. Instead, they are calling for “increased surveillance, targeted slaughter of only animals that test positive for DNC, and the expansion of vaccination."
However opponents warn that relaxing the measures could risk allowing the disease to spread both within and outside herds.
Veterinary expert David Quint told regional media France 3 "veterinarians who perform these euthanasia procedures do so because it is currently the only method that appears to be the most effective. Euthanasia has resulted in the death of approximately 3,500 cows out of a total herd of 16 million head of cattle."
How effective is the cull method?
The disease first appeared in France in the Alpine départements of Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
“The three-pronged approach of halting movement, vaccinations, and depopulation as quickly as possible” has been effective against the diesase in Savoie, according to Cédric Laboret, president of the Savoie Mont-Blanc Chamber of Agriculture.
There have been “no more cases since the last culling on August 29th,” added the farmer.
“If we want to get rid of the disease, we slaughter as much as we can,” he adds, “because in reality, we are not able to distinguish between animals that are sick and those that are not".
Will the government change course?
Ahead of a visit to south-west France on Monday, Agriculture Minister Annie Genvard said that “the discussion is open” on a possible suspension of the systematic slaughter of cattle herds.
She added that she was considering the “serious and thoughtful proposals” from farmers who are calling for a change in strategy in order to contain the disease. “We are going to listen, observe, and consult. I will be meeting with absolutely everyone this week,” she said.
Comments