"Then we'll see if the cows are still allowed to sw****"

It was one of the most popular press events in the history of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs.

"Then we'll see if the cows are still allowed to sw****"

It was one of the most popular press events in the history of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. Minister of State Hubert Aiwanger had invited at short notice to an on-site visit to a cow meadow in the 2,500-strong town of Pähl in Upper Bavaria.

When the 51-year-old politician from the Free Voters got out of the service limousine at the dairy farm on the outskirts of town on Monday afternoon and hurried straight to the pasture, several dozen press and radio journalists and a similar number of cattle were already waiting.

"Then we'll see if the cows are still allowed to shit," said Aiwanger, grinning - and climbed over the electric fence, which had been switched off as a precaution. An unusual greeting for a minister, even in Bavaria. But in this case it fit the topic.

What led the politician to the provinces was an issue that has been keeping people at the foot of the Alps in suspense for a few days: the so-called "cow patty dispute". At the center of the affair is a 51-year-old dairy farmer from Pähl who is said to have to pay a fine of 100 euros plus a processing fee of 28.50 euros because one of his cows is said to have left a piece of cake on the asphalt of the village street. Whereupon a local resident reported him. A banal incident that has been spreading ever since and will soon even concern the Federal Council.

Georg Schweiger put on a neat blue shirt for the big day and tucked it into his waistband despite the heat. A cow curiously sniffs his jeans. Schweiger stands a little lost in the hustle and bustle, perhaps wondering if the whole thing is really worth the boost.

He is a 13th generation farmer and his family has been farming here since 1666. For a long time, no one was interested. But now the traditional peasant family has come into conflict with the regulatory power.

It was on May 12, Schweiger tells the WELT reporter on a short walk across the cow pasture, at 8 a.m. in the morning he drove his two dozen cows over the 300 or 400 meter stretch between the stable and the pasture, as he does every day. Then a cow, really only one, he swears, left a piece of cake behind.

"I removed the rough stuff," Schweiger swears and gives details of the scope and consistency of the legacy as well as the coarse-pored asphalt, which made it impossible to remove it completely without water.

Nothing helped: A few days later, Schweiger received a letter from the municipal administration in the mailbox, a hearing form in which he was asked to comment on the widespread pollution of the streets he was accused of. Schweiger did not and does not deny the process itself, but the dimension.

"It wasn't extensive." Schweiger admits that the neighbor complained about the manure four years ago. On the other hand, the direct residents on the stretch of road and the majority in the village have no problem with the dung, he claims.

However, the responsible authorities did not give in and sent Schweiger a fine notice. He should pay almost 130 euros. In the last week, the matter even went to the public prosecutor's office. "I think that's disproportionate," says Schweiger.

Now Bavaria's Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger, who before his political career helped out on his parents' dairy farm and studied agriculture, has taken on the matter. You can't tie diapers on cows and you can't fly them to the pasture in a helicopter, he initially commented in the agricultural weekly.

Then he realized that the topic could also be of interest to a broader public and staged a PR event on the green field. If cows were no longer allowed to go out on the street, he said in somewhat clearer terms, then the fundamental question would arise: "What happens next with grazing cattle?"

With a Bavarian church tower and chewing and digesting cows behind him and many lenses in front of him, Aiwanger presented farmer Schweiger with a hundred, a twenty and a ten in a transparent film.

The bills did not come from the ministerial budget, but from his private wallet, as he emphasized. Should the community come to their senses and withdraw the fine notice, the money should be donated to the community kindergarten.

A true cow coup in front of a backdrop that was not chosen at random; the appointment had even been rescheduled at short notice to the farm of another Pähler farmer. Because with the symbolic handover of the fine, the case for Aiwanger is far from over. He wants cow dung to be legally protected in the future, as well as church bells and the jingle of cowbells.

Last week, the government cabinet passed a Federal Council initiative initiated by the Free Voters to protect the cultural asset "sense heritage". After the summer break, the Federal Council is to discuss a corresponding amendment to the Federal Emission Protection Act.

"Then the countries can define what we have to endure," said Aiwanger on the cow meadow. In Bavaria, this would be the ringing of bells and cow pats, and in Hamburg perhaps the smell of the fish market and the hooting of ships, Aiwanger explained the idea. Päh's cow dung came in handy for this.

Pähl's Mayor Werner Grünbauer had not been invited to the on-site visit by the Minister of State and did not show up either. The local politician, himself a farmer, had pointed out in advance that in his community not every flatbread would be fined. In this specific case, however, the affected resident "wouldn't have come out on the street at all without stepping in the shit," he explained to journalists.

Aiwanger, on the other hand, countered that he had the person concerned send him the photos of the flatbread. "The pictures didn't shock me," said the minister. He advised the man – a newcomer, as he mentioned, to collect the cow dung himself and use it to fertilize his strawberries and tomatoes.

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