Lumpy Skin Disease threatens Comtรฉ Cheese Productionโ as Farmers Face Mass Culling
Doubs, Jura – December 4,โค 2025 – Aโ rapidly unfolding outbreak of lumpy skin disease is casting a shadow over farms in โฃthe Doubs department and the wider Comtรฉ cheese-producing region of Jura, โprompting โfears of widespread livestock lossesโ and disruption to France’s oldest protected Designation of Origin (AOP) cheese. Authorities have already authorizedโ the cullingโข of 83 cows on one farm, with the โpotential forโข “dozens or even hundreds” more animals to be slaughtered as the disease spreads.
theโค outbreak has ignited tensions between farmers, animal rights activists, and government officials. Clashes โerupted between police and farmers protesting the planned culling, while activists โฃadvocated forโค confining affected farms to prevent further animal deaths. However, the departmental director of the DDETSPP (Direction Dรฉpartementale de l’Environnement, de l’Amรฉnagement et du Logement) argued that a stable is not a secure confinement,โข as disease-carrying insects like flies and horseflies can travel โup to 5 km.
Jรฉrรฉmy Boillon, a breeder in Cerneux-Monnot, โfaces the potential loss of โขhis 85-cow herd.”This disease coudl lead us to slaughter โanโ entire herd,”โค he stated. “They represent โฃdecades of genetics and generations โขof breeders. We are talking about compensation, but it will be less โgiven the damage we suffer. Not to mention the โฃmoral damage: you should know that a breeder gets up every morning to see his animals. imagining an empty stable is heartbreakingโฆ”
The situation follows initial cases of lumpy skin disease discovered in Savoie earlier in 2025, where farmers were initiallyโฃ told that complete herd slaughter wasโ the only solution. Boillon now questions this โคapproach,suggesting,”Wouldn’t it be possible to study an affected herd to see what’s happening? (Editor’s note: the mortality rate is between 1 and 5%.) At this time of year,โ there โขis little contact, fewer insects, why not imagine other solutions?”
The potential loss of herds also threatens the viability ofโค local agricultural cooperatives. Boillon’s milk is collected by the organic farming cooperative in Cerneux-Monnot, and he warns thatโข replacing his organic Montbรฉliard cows โwould be “almost impossible,” jeopardizingโ ongoing investments.
The โComtรฉ AOP produces 65,000 tonnes of cheese annually, and the region is now bracing for further action as authorities monitor the expansion of the surveillance zone. Theโฃ outbreak underscores the vulnerability of the region’s agricultural economy to animal disease and raises questions about preventative measures and alternative strategies to mass culling.