Heatwaves Drive Austrian Cows to Slaughter
Extreme temperatures dry out Alpine pastures and cut grain yields by a fifth, while the UK faces its hottest summer for the second year in a row.
Extreme temperatures dry out Alpine pastures and cut grain yields by a fifth, while the UK faces its hottest summer for the second year in a row.
This year's scorching of Europe, even in water-rich Austria, is seriously threatening agriculture. Due to prolonged drought and unbearable heat, farmers are forced to bring livestock down from dried-out Alpine pastures early and send them to slaughterhouses, while grain yields are melting away. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is on the brink of breaking its own temperature record set just last year.
Dairy farmer Johann Fessl, whose cattle spend the summer on Alpine pastures at 1,300 meters above sea level, describes the dramatic situation. "We haven't had rain for weeks, and we've never had such high temperatures for such a long period," Fessl told Reuters. The lack of water and grass is forcing farmers to bring cows back to the barns, where they are fed hay meant for winter, increasing costs.
As president of the association of farmers who graze cattle in Upper Austria, Fessl warns of alarming moves. "There are already pastures where there is no livestock anymore," he said. "This year, some (farmers) are talking about emergency slaughter. The waiting list (for slaughter) is already long."
Crop farming has not been spared either. The national food production monitoring body, AgrarMarkt Austria, announced this month that it expects a 19% smaller grain harvest this year. Corn, which requires even more water, has been particularly hard hit. Farmer Roland Radner has already cut down most of his corn because the yield was extremely poor, and the remaining stalks are dried out and yellow instead of the usual green.
In greenhouses in Leonding, a suburb of Linz, Barbara Stemberger and Fritz Hummer grow 30 varieties of tomatoes. Much of their harvest has been stunted or disfigured by dry, gray-brown spots. "Due to the extreme heat of the past weeks, many of our tomatoes are affected by blossom end rot. The tomatoes are still edible if you cut off the rotten parts, but we can no longer sell them like that," Hummer explained.
However, there is a silver lining. "Carrots are doing exceptionally well this year because of the heat," added Stemberger, noting that extreme weather also creates unexpected winners.
A similar story is unfolding in the north of the continent. The UK's Met Office announced on Tuesday that the United Kingdom is "on track" to record its hottest summer for the second year in a row. "Another record summer is now looking increasingly likely for the UK, following the second warmest June and second warmest July on record, and yet another heatwave on the way," said senior scientist Mike Kendon.
The average temperature this summer, from June 1 to August 10, already stands at 16.48°C. That is above last year's record of 16.10°C, and the previous record from 2018 was 15.76°C. Kendon stressed that these figures are "a stark reminder-if one were needed-of the drastic changes we are seeing in the UK's climate." Nearly three-quarters of England and all of Wales are facing drought, and July was their driest on record. It is estimated that the heat and record temperatures in May and June caused 2,877 excess deaths in England, nearly double the number for the entire summer of 2025.
