Judging by the comments on the proposed regulation regarding livestock keeping, it seems that the Ministry of Agriculture has complicated matters a bit. Namely, if signed by Minister David Vlajčić, the question is whether existing livestock farmers will even dare to continue this business. The issue is the responsibility of only one entity in situations where there are objectively more responsible parties. Article 6, paragraph 6 of the proposed Regulation on the Registration and Approval of Entities and Facilities for Keeping Terrestrial Animals is contentious.
It states that registration is allowed for only one entity that is directly responsible for the health and welfare of the animals in the registered facility. The Association for Fattening and Breeding Cattle, Baby Beef, believes that this is not a good solution as it significantly alters the established method of fattening and caring for animals in cases where fattening is based on a cooperative model. For example, a registered facility, a barn where cows are housed, has one registered entity, i.e., the breeder of those cows. If there is enough space in that barn, it can also accommodate cows from another breeder. However, this will no longer be possible because the registered entity of the registered barn will not accept cows from another breeder as it would be responsible for them as well.
Outside the EU
This situation is particularly inconvenient if a company has cooperatives. In the barns of cooperatives (and cooperatives are registered entities), the company also keeps its cows. If this regulation is accepted, the cooperative will have to terminate its cooperation with the company, meaning it will no longer be a cooperative because it does not want to be solely responsible for the health and welfare of the animals in the registered facility. Therefore, the company will have to remove cows from its cooperative’s barn. There are many such examples in our livestock farming, so it would indeed be wise to reconsider the contentious provision. Ideally, there should be as many registered entities responsible for animal health as there are being fattened in one facility, i.e., barn. Furthermore, they say in Baby Beef that this restriction is being introduced contrary to the legislation enacted by the European Commission, and no EU member state has such a regulation.
This is not the only situation that could lead breeders to cease their livestock business. There are many cases where the owner of the facility (barn) is not a registered entity (does not fatten livestock) and rents the barn to two or more users for fattening their livestock. The question is who will be the registered entity responsible for the health and welfare of the animals in that situation, as the barn owner will not want to be because he does not breed anything, he only rents. On the other hand, none of those breeders who rented the barn want to take on that responsibility. That is, they would take responsibility for their livestock, but why would they do so for another breeder’s livestock, especially if there are more of them?
