The Minister of Agriculture visits farmers affected by cattle dermatitis

On Thursday, July 24, Annie Genevard defended her strategy for combating the bovine dermatosis (BDC) epidemic during a trip to Savoie and Haute-Savoie, where more than a thousand animals have been euthanized since the end of June 2025.

"This is an extremely dangerous disease due to its contagiousness and the strength of the virus," she declared after a "crisis meeting" in Chambéry with representatives of breeders, elected officials and authorities from the two departments, noting a "risk that it could wipe out the entire French beef industry" if it were not stopped.

The control protocol put in place, "about which no one has expressed any scientific reservations, at least not in the reference organizations", is based on the euthanasia of herds where cases have been detected, vaccination and biosecurity, that is to say that the animals are not moved.

The first case was reported on June 29, and as of July 23, 34 outbreaks have been detected in Savoie and Haute-Savoie, according to the ministry. To date, some 1,500 animals, from 33 herds, have been euthanized, according to Christian Convers, secretary general of the Rural Coordination and a breeder in Savoie .

These so-called "depopulation" measures have caused strong emotion in the affected areas where some breeders tried for several days to block access to their farms to prevent the slaughter.

Around fifty farmers and their supporters gathered early Thursday in front of the Savoie prefecture to denounce the "massacre" of their animals and call for the "selective" slaughter of sick animals to ensure the survival of their farms.

"Genevard, you're too late," they chanted, led by the Peasant Confederation and the Rural Coordination.

"It's more relevant to be here (in the streets) than to be inside to endorse a circus that will once again just validate something that was decided in Parisian offices," said Stéphane Galais, spokesperson for the Confédération Paysanne. The minister should have come to meet "those whose livestock has been slaughtered, those who are suffering, in fact, and discuss with them what alternatives we can have, what projections we will have. Because there is vaccination: will it continue to kill cows? That's the question," he insisted.

Around twenty other protesters were also present near the Haute-Savoie farm where the minister later visited, holding signs proclaiming "You are murderers." This farm in Hauteville-sur-Fier, near Annecy, which supplies milk for Emmental and Raclette cheeses, began vaccinating its cows on Sunday.

Now, "the countdown has begun. We know that by August 10 or 12, our herd will be out of danger. But there are still two weeks left when the risk is still significant," emphasized farmer Denis Tranchant.

But for now, "everyone is afraid," and "on a human level, it's very hard," he stressed, deeply moved.

According to him, the danger weighing on the French beef industry is "real" and "we cannot build a post-crisis situation on reproaches." He declared himself "ready without hesitation" in the future to sell animals to breeders who need to rebuild their herds.

LSD , which affects cattle, buffalo and zebu, is transmitted by insect bites such as the stomoxys (a biting fly) or the horsefly, but is not transmissible to humans, neither by contact with infected cattle, nor through food, nor by insect bites.

"I want to salute and thank" the farmers "who accepted this sacrifice to save the livestock sector. They are heroes," the minister declared, assuring that compensation "would be quickly deployed" for the farmers of euthanized animals, "in proportion to the damage that was caused."

The minister also paid "tribute to the farmers who, in a spirit of good citizenship and to protect all livestock farms," agreed to have their herds where cases had been detected slaughtered.