14 DAY TRIAL // Looking to limit environmental pollution, the European Union issued a piece of legislation saying that folks living in member states were not to use fertilizers on hillsides whose gradients were greater than 15%.
One thing led to another, and this ban is now the reason a bunch of cows in the state of Bavaria are walking around wearing home-made and seriously oversized nappies.
Feel free to check out the photo next to this article and the one below if you need confirmation. Fair warning: before you have a look at them, be sure that you're in a place where it's OK to let out a few giggles.
What does the EU's ban have to do with cows?
Admittedly, the European Union did well in implementing this ban intended to curb environmental pollution and thus help protect natural ecosystems. However, there is one small problem.
Because of their makeup, cow pats can be considered to be natural fertilizers. Hence, technically speaking, they'd better not pop up on hillsides with gradients of over 15%. Unless the cows are ready to be prosecuted, that is.
This rationale led German farmer Johann Huber to the conclusion that he would do well to put diapers on his cows whenever setting them free to graze on slopes in Gmund am Tegernsee, a municipality in the Alps.
This farmer made the cow nappies himself. All his 18 cows have one, and oddly enough, they don't seem to mind having to wear them when out in public. In fact, rumor has it that some of the cows think that the diaper compliments their figure.
“We have no standard nappies, they have not been developed commercially yet,” Bavarian farmer Johann Huber told the press in a recent interview, as cited by Daily Mail.
Mind you, this guy isn't crazy
At a first glance, Johann Huber might strike people as a wee, well, out of his mind. However, this is not the case. On the contrary, he is not missing any screws. His decision to put nappies on his cows was merely intended as a protest against the ban on fertilizers.
Together with other farmers, this man believes that, because of this piece of legislation embraced by European Union member states, many businesses will go bankrupt and quite a lot of people will eventually lose agricultural subsidies.
“We demand that the ban is stopped in Germany. In Bavaria no fertilization would be possible on half the cultivated land and restrictions would be needed on cows grazing in Alpine pastures,” Anton Kreitmair with the Farmers’ Association in Upper Bavaria said in a statement.
Commenting on Johann Huber's decision to put nappies on his 18 cows, a spokesperson for the European Union pointed out that the ban did not in any way refer to cattle, and that it would be unwise to change the legislation.
