No animal husbandry conditions

The German Ministry of Agriculture has proposed an initiative to introduce a tax on “animal welfare.” In order to ensure the welfare of animals on farms, it is proposed to impose duties on meat and dairy products, reports the business portal.

The agency calculated that the surcharge would cost consumers only 35.2 euros per year (23.8 euros for meat, 4.72 euros for eggs and 6.5 euros for milk and dairy products). Farmers receive subsidies that allow them to expand their cow barns or buy larger cages for laying hens. Earlier, Agriculture Minister Julia Kleckner drafted another bill to “humanize animal husbandry.” It prohibits farmers from killing male chickens after they hatch from eggs. Every year in Germany, 45 million chicks are killed, useless to the industry. This is also common practice in other EU countries. Authorities want to introduce laser technology to determine the sex of embryos while they are still in the hatchery. The Germans believe that it is more humane to prevent the birth of small roosters than to kill the newborns. In this case, however, the cost of each egg increases by two cents.