VIDEO. A dairy farm in Haute-Marne pinned by L214 for animal abuse and misleading communication

In a video published Monday, November 25 on its site, the animal rights association shows the unsuitable conditions for breeding cattle in the GAEC Recogni du Deffaut, in Leschères-sur-le-Blaiseron, in Haute-Marne (52 ). The company produces milk for the Ermitage cheese factory, which nevertheless boasts open-air breeding.

After the mistreated piglets on a farm in Corbeil (51), after the dozens of decomposing bovine corpses in Praslay (52), it is now in Leschères-sur-le-Blaiseron, still in Haute-Marne, that the association L214 is carrying out an investigation, published Monday November 25 on its website.

In a damning one-minute video, we first see dairy cows from GAEC Recogni du Deffaut violently beaten with sticks by a breeder, then the unsanitary conditions in which they live. The floors are dirty, slippery, flooded with mud and the animals “wade in their own droppings” underlines the association fighting for animal welfare.

L214, which alerted the veterinary services of the Haute-Marne prefecture, also highlights the absence of a sleeping area.clean and mulched”, which causes “sores on the hocks“and affirms that the beasts”live all year round without any access to the outdoors“.

In her press release, she denounces “the industrialization of this breeding, of which the animals are the first victims: zero grazing, artificial insemination, repeated pregnancies, systematic separation of cows and their calves, automatic milking twice a day, metallic and poor environment“.

The GAEC Recogni du Deffaut has 160 dairy cows, one of the largest in the Grand Est region, and produces on average 1.5 million liters of milk per year, directly collected by the Ermitage industrial cheese factory in Bulgnéville, in the Vosges. Sébastien Arsac, co-founder of L214, also accuses the company of “misleading communication“. Indeed, on its website, it is mentioned that the quality of the milk meets demanding criteria: “the environment, the layout and cleanliness of the premises, fodder and food“. The cooperative also highlights grazing cows, with a slogan “get some fresh air, take the Hermitage“. However, according to L214, “animals can't even graze […]the cows are locked in unsanitary buildings, with no access to the outside“.

As such, a report was made to the DGCCRF, the general directorate for competition, consumption and fraud prevention.

The association also singles out the GAEC Recogni du Deffaut for its sources of financing. Under the common agricultural policy – the CAP – the group would receive several thousand euros in public subsidies each year. “For the period from October 2021 to October 2022, he received a total of €83,759” details L214.

The milk produced is used in particular to make Emmental and Brie sold in supermarkets. Consequently, L214 also sent the images and video of the GAEC of Leschères-sur-le-Blaiseron to the main players in mass distribution.