ranchers Archives - usatoday24

While Spain does everything possible to preserve the Iberian wolf, one group has very different ideas: ranchers

April 4, 2026 by usatoday24

A few days ago, a six-year-old Iberian wolf named Raksha traveled from the Basabrere center in Lezaun (Navarra) to the Jerez de la Frontera Zoobotanical Center. A trip that aims enrich the captive breeding program started in 1995 in order to guarantee the conservation of the species. The problem is that it is being done at a time when ranchers are fighting against the presence of the wolf due to the damage it is causing. Wolf x-ray. To understand the conflict, you first have to look at the numbers. According to the last national censusSpain has 333 stable herds, which translates into about 1,600 to 1,700 individuals, and it is good news because it marks an increase of 12% compared to the previous census. Here the vast majority is concentrated north of the Duero River, although a clear trend of expansion is observed towards the south and east of the peninsula. The problem is that we are still quite far from reaching the 500 herds that can guarantee good genetic variability that allows them to survive. That is why the Government maintains until this March the classification of the wolf’s conservation status as “unfavorable.” The war in the countryside. If science is telling us that there is a need for wolves, livestock farmers affirm that there are plenty of them, and they see this due to the increase in attacks on livestock that has forced the State to inject 20 million euros annually for prevention measures with fences or mastiff dogs, as well as to compensate financially. However, organizations such as WWF denounce that management by the autonomous communities is deficient, with a lack of transparency and little progress compared to what is set out in the 2022 National Strategy. Lots of criticism. But these measures seem to be not enough for some, such as the Popular Party, which points out that in the province of Lugo, where more than 1,400 affected animals were registered, much more still needs to be done. The Xunta de Galicia itself also points out that right now the winners do not have state funds to be able to face these attacks. Although the tension is undoubtedly placed right now on the temporary inclusion of the wolf in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime (LESPRE). Under this legal umbrella, any action of capture, disturbance, sale or destruction of the species’ habitat is prohibited. A legal pulse. If we look back, a few months ago various amendments and regulatory changes They allowed a partial departure of the wolf from LESPRE, authorizing controls based on hunting to mitigate economic damage. But in February 2026 a ruling from the Supreme Court turned the situation around 180 degreessince it tightened the requirements to authorize these extractions, obligatorily prioritizing non-lethal alternatives and drastically limiting hunting. This sentence has acted like gasoline in regions of northern Spain where ranchers report significant attacks on their animals, and that is why the autonomous communities threaten to report the Spanish government to the European Union for not acting on the regulation of this species. But what is clear is that the crossroads of the Iberian wolf in 2026 is the perfect reflection of a coexistence problem. While Raksha and other specimens in captivity ensure the genetic lifeline of the species, in the offices and meadows of northern Spain the formula that allows the wolf to howl without the rural world starting to tremble has not yet been found. Images | Arturo de Frias Marques In Xataka | We have managed to make the dire wolves return after 10,000 years of being extinct. The problem is that “come back” may not be the right word.

In its efforts to once again conquer the Peninsula, the brown bear has just found its main ally against the ranchers: tourism

March 25, 2026 by usatoday24

In the late 80s and 90s, the brown bear was on the verge of total extinction in Spain. There were just a few dozen spread across remote areas of the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees. Today there are more than 400 And although we have been recovering the species for almost 40 years, the truth is that it has not stopped being controversial for a single moment in all that time. A controversy that, little by little, spreads throughout the country. An absence of 150 years. In the regions of La Cabrera, Sanabria or Carballeda and even in areas bordering Ourense, it had been more than a century and a half since anyone had seen a brown bear. However, a new study They have documented up to 85 tests that he has returned to the region. They are direct observations, verified footprints, damage to hives, phototraps and testimonies. It doesn’t matter, despite the size of these bugs, identifying them is difficult. The interesting thing is that, as another study pointed out, the bear has expanded to 17,000 km2. But… how did we do it? There are three key pieces to the system: great efforts were made to prevent poaching, their natural habitat was protected, and Slovenian bears were reintroduced to replenish populations. In the Pyrenees, in fact, the native line ended up disappearing (although, in 2025, it was recorded the first native bear cub born in the mountain range in more than 50 years). An even more important question: why are we doing it? That is, what purpose does a brown bear serve and why do we want to reintroduce it. Well, according to experts, the brown bear has several important functions in the maintenance of its ecosystems. To begin with, they are dispersers of seeds of fleshy fruits (something very beneficial for the forest mass), they control the populations of herbivores, they clean the forest of bodies as scavengers and it is a bioindicator of the quality of the ecosystem. The bear is at the top of the food chain: its presence improves ecosystems, manages them, maintains them. But, it creates problems… doesn’t it? That’s what the livestock industry says. According to data from the Aragonese Pyrenees, in 2024 there were 33 confirmed attacks (29 in Ansó and 4 in Hecho). The result was 44 dead sheep and 2 goats. The dispute is that, according to the ranchers, the compensation (22,431 euros in 2024) is insufficient. For them, not only deaths must be counted, but also stress abortions, disappearances and a drop in production. That is, what they defend is that part of the costs of the reintroduction of the bear are being paid by them. The issue, as its presence is consolidated, the interests of the ranchers are no longer the only ones. Little by little, the bone regions are attracting wildlife tourism which also generates money. A lot. In the Val d’Aran, there is even talk of overcrowding. In the end, the problem is always the same: Are we willing to pay the cost of living with the nature that we say we want to save? Whether we like it or not, the accidents on the farms in the Pyrenees and the massive replantings (up to 150,000 trees) in the Cantabrian Mountains are two sides of the same coin. It is not enough to throw it in the air and wait to see what happens. Image | Karl Paul Baldacchino In Xataka | Faced with the largest flood of wild bears in memory, Japan has taken a measure: emergency hunts

Cantabria has always been one of the largest milk producers in Spain. Now their ranchers are going extinct

February 20, 2026 by usatoday24

The Cantabrian livestock sector is in full transformation. Especially if we talk about milk production. In recent years the region has seen the disappearance hundreds of farms of beef. The phenomenon can be explained (in part) by a tendency towards concentration, but that has not in any case prevented the decline in production. The result is that, although Cantabria continues to have a relevant weight in it national sectorfinds itself with a complex panorama: its dairy farmers are on the verge of extinction. What do the figures say? The phenomenon is complex and to understand it, several keys must be used. The most relevant is probably the contribution last summer the Cantabrian Government itself, when disclosing a balance sheet that shows that the region lost almost 400 dairy farms in just six years. From the 1,167 registered in March 2019, it rose to 770 during the same month of 2025. A few days ago The Confidential public an information on the sector that shows an even lower figure, with 749 milking farms. CCAA cow’s milk production on farms (2024 – data in thousands of Tms) Galicia 3,095,539 Asturias 535,863 Cantabria 404,850 the Basque Country 163,395 Navarre 280,273 Rioja 22,832 Aragon 176,416 Catalonia 770,981 Balearics 60,851 Castile and León 925,809 Madrid 55,427 Castile-La Mancha 296,292 Valencian Community 86,356 Murcia 68,684 Estremadura 18,618 Andalusia 557,998 Canary Islands 55,881 Spain 7,576,063 Is there more data? Yes. The balance sheet provided by the Cantabrian Executive is interesting because it shows that this loss of farms is not the result of a one-off restructuring, but rather a sustained trend over time. If 2019 ended with 1,113 farms, in 2020 there were already 1,050, 976 in 2021, 905 in 2022, 847 in 2023 and 784 at the end of 2024. In the first quarter of 2025 the census was at 770. The values do not coincide with those of the yearbook published in 2024 by Agriculture, but The trend is basically the same. Is it just the number of farms going down? No. The loss of farms can be explained in part by a trend towards the concentration. That is to say, perhaps in the community there are fewer farms but those that exist accumulate more cattle. The rest of the sector’s indicators, however, show that it is far from strengthening. The census of milking cows has experienced a fluctuating trend in recent years, with ups and downs. Its trend has been less clear and pronounced than that of farms, but the final balance is not good. Why’s that? In 2019 there were registered in the community 49,486 cattle bred for milk production. In 2024 there were already 48,186, about 1,300 less. In between, the sector has experienced some important ups and downs. In 2022, for example, the census reached 64,633 cows after growing by around 7% in one year, but in 2023 it again experienced a considerable decline. Production data is also not buoyant. Both those collected by Agriculture and the impressions conveyed by the sector. Recently admitted to The Confidential which has encountered a decrease in the collection volume, something unusual not so long ago. “Production in Cantabria has fallen by 15% in the last five years,” the national federation FENIL states. How does that affect the region? The key I gave it in December The Montañés Diary. The loss of dairy farms has meant that in the community there are now several dozen municipalities without farms of this type. To be precise, there are 26 towns without a trace of the industry, a list that includes towns with an urban profile, such as Castro Urdiales, but also others that have been more linked to the agricultural and livestock sector, such as Anievas or Cabuérniga. At the end of last year there were almost a dozen and a half nuclei in which only one livestock farm dedicated to dairy survived. What is the change due to? There are several factors at play. Beyond the general tendency of the bovine sector towards concentration that occurs in Spain, with the transition from many small farms to a few larger ones, the drift of the Cantabrian industry is explained by social and economic issues. They close farms because there is no generational change. Neither more nor less. “The first factor that explains this is the advanced age of the region’s ranchers. The average is between 58 and 60 years old,” explains to The Confidential Luis Pérez, from Ugam-Coag. “They reach retirement and close the farm, no one continues.” And why does that happen? Again, due to a combination of factors. Taking care of farms requires intense and constant work (“You have to milk twice a day, every day”) that is not always rewarded when selling the product in a volatile market with fluctuating prices. “You can be very well and in two months go down and be very bad. There is no type of stability,” Perez adds.. Against this backdrop, there are more tempting niches within livestock farming, such as breeding for the meat sector. While Cantabria has seen the number of farms dedicated to milking decrease, professionals in the meat sector have increased. What is happening with that sector? “The majority of those who enter are children of ranchers. And they almost always join with beef cows,” comments Pérez in The Montañés Diary. “In both cases you have to attend to the animals every day, but with milk you have to milk, yes or yes, every 12 hours.” Before the pandemic, there were 7,827 livestock farms of this type. In 2023 there were already more than 8,100, although since then that record also seems to have been reduced. Images | Nicolas Vigier (Flickr) and Department of agriculture In Xataka | We have tried to find out if science prefers whole, semi or skimmed milk and we have stayed as we were

Log In

Sign In

Forgot password?

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections