L214 alerts the veterinary services and asks the brand to terminate its contract with this breeder
L214 publishes this Tuesday, November 26, images from a dairy farm located in Leschères-sur-le-Blaiseron in Haute-Marne. The GAEC Recogni du Deffaut houses around 160 dairy cows and produces 1.5 million liters of milk each year for the Ermitage cheese factory in Bulgnéville in the Vosges.
This Monday, November 25, L214 alerted the veterinary services of the Haute-Marne prefecture to the dysfunctions in this breeding, sources of additional suffering for the animals.
A report was also sent to the DGCCRF regarding the misleading communication from the Ermitage cheese factory. In fact, the consumer is led to associate the farms working with the cooperative with a type of free-range farming with access to pastures.
Furthermore, L214 asks the Ermitage cheese factory to disengage from this breeding, and to no longer obtain its supplies from farms in which dairy cows never have access to the outside.
The person in charge of the farm is mayor of the commune of Leschères-sur-le-Blaiseron, member of the board of directors of the FDSEA, and president of the agricultural union in the canton of Doulevant-le-Château.
The images were filmed between October 14 and 24, 2024
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Breeding conditions are unsuitable for the biological needs of cattle:
L214 denounces the industrialization of this breeding, of which the animals are the first victims: zero grazing (the animals cannot even graze), artificial insemination, repeated pregnancies, systematic separation of cows and their calves, automatic milking twice per year. day, metallic and poor environment.
For Sébastien Arsac, co-founder of L214: “ In its communication, the Ermitage cooperative highlights cows grazing: cows in the open air on its website, in advertisements, a misleading slogan “Take the air, take the Ermitage”. The brand also makes it appear that cows benefit from straw bedding. However, in this industrial farming, the reality is quite different: the cows are locked in unsanitary buildings, with no access to the outside.. The cooperative is fully responsible for the suffering of these animals. We are asking for a strong commitment from the brand to refuse to source from farms that do not allow cows access to the outdoors and the possibility of grazing. »
More than €80,000 in public aid paid to this intensive breeding
The GAEC Recogni du Deffaut benefits each year from aid from Europe (as part of the common agricultural policy). For the period from October 2021 to October 2022, he received a total of €83,759.
Given the conditions in which the animals live, these tens of thousands of euros should have been used in part for work to improve their living conditions.
With around 160 dairy cows and 1.5 million liters of milk collected each year by the Ermitage cheese dairy, this farm is one of the largest in the region. The average dairy herd in the Grand-Est region is 77 cows per farm.
These cows produce milk for making Emmental and Brie sold in supermarkets.
The cheese factory site in Bulgnéville produces Ermitage Brie and Ermitage Emmental. The brand is distributed in all supermarkets in France, therefore, L214 brought the images from this breeding to the attention of the main brands (Carrefour, E.Leclerc, Système U, Intermarché, Monoprix).
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