#5 EU Regulations for Dairy Production

                                     Regulations Placed on Milk Production in Austria



Austria is a big producer of dairy products. Around 32 850 Austrian farmers produce high quality milk products. The milk and dairy production help to conserve the natural landscape. Without cows, the preservation of grass in Alpine regions wouldn't be possible. A lot of milk is organic and in 2014 the quantity of milk produced reached 3.5 million tones.

The dairy policy of Europe is developing and encouraging the producers to be more market-orientated since 1960s. It helps to create stable market conditions in EU for dairy producers. It operates in 3 areas: using trade, making direct payments to farmers, and internal market supports.
EU keeps relatively high tariffs on dairy products to sustain the market price.

There is a variety of systems concerned in milk marketing. Some of the farmers sell their milk to dairy processors but in Austria many direct their milk to consumers, as well.
The milk quota system was developed in Europe, in 1984 and it set a limit on the amount of milk produced per year. If the farmer produces more milk than allowed, he/she gets financial penalty.

The prices of milk are based on few factors, such as: world dairy product prices, supply and demand in EU, the fluxion of currency exchange, quality requirements and demand for certain products, support for dairy market and farmers, and the competition within food chain.

Among the main producers of milk products in Austria are: Alma and SalzburgerLand located in the Salzburg area:

Cows in Austria contribute to the natural landscape and grass preservation. They graze on the fields and eat grass. The cow manure helps the grass to grow and is also used for fertilizing the land. During summer, the cows are on the mountain regions and in fall the are herded back to mountain valleys. This event and their safe home coming is celebrated in Tirol regions and is called the Cattle Drives.

Folk Festival- Cattle Drives, celebrating safe home-coming of Austrian cows

Normally, cows are milked around twice a day. The milking machines are used that can milk many cows at the same time.  It's called the Automatic Milking System (AMS).  The use of this system is increasing and can be evaluated for its effect on cow welfare.
The milk can be directly sold to customers. Around the place I live there are milk automats in which you can buy fresh milk directly from cows. It is usually transported to the producers such as SalzburgerLand. Some produce their own dairy products such as cheese and butter.
The average price for milk is 1 euro.

cows grazing on the fields during summer