France drought causes animal feed shortage, early livestock slaughtering

One of the most severe droughts in a half-century in France has caused a shortage in animal feed, resulting in a 10% increase in livestock slaughtering, France’s Les Echos reported.

France began slaughtering its milk cows nearly 10 months ago, according to the country’s national crop office FranceAgriMer. The unusually early slaughtering accelerated at the beginning of 2011, France AgriMer says, as the country’s beef consumption has dropped 4.1% since that time