Farmers in France protested the planned vaccination of one million head of cattle against lumpy skin disease, blocking highways and dumping manure near public buildings. “We will vaccinate nearly one million animals in the coming weeks and protect farmers. I want to reiterate that the state will stand by affected farmers, their losses will be compensated as well as their operating losses,” Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said, according to France 24. French authorities ordered massive culls after several reported outbreaks of the disease. NEW – France mandates vaccination of one million cows against lumpy skin disease (LSD), amid widespread farmer protests over the government's policy of culling entire infected herds.https://t.co/BKkRJh9YIf — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 15, 2025 France 24 has more: Lumpy skin disease, which cannot be passed to humans but can be fatal for cattle, first appeared in France in June. The state’s strategy to stamp out what they describe as a very contagious disease has since been to kill all animals in affected herds, as well as “emergency vaccination” of all cattle within a 50-kilometre (30-mile) radius. Several unions have called that approach ineffective, with the left-wing Confédération paysanne on Friday saying it was “more scary than the illness itself”, urging an end to the culls and more vaccinations. It called for “blockades across France to put an end to this madness”. But the authorities have stood by their plan. “To save the entire industry, slaughter is the only solution,” Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard on Friday told Le Parisien newspaper. Footage of the protests circulated on social media: Farmers in southern France stage tractor blockades and burn tyres to protest govt's order to slaughter entire cattle herds due to contagious skin disease, with major unions condemning measure as extermination pic.twitter.com/MkcAKLFJgB — TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) December 14, 2025 Farmers gather in Ariège tonight in response to the planned slaughter of 208 cows following the discovery of a case of lumpy skin disease. Farmers say it's an overreaction. EU protocols demand it. Farmers are now literally being gassed from above! pic.twitter.com/iSJwB6VbND — Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra) December 11, 2025 Reuters explained further: Farmers stepped up protests on Saturday, blocking several toll entrances and exits on the A64 motorway in the southwestern departement Hautes-Pyrenees, local authorities said. Protesters have also dumped manure near government buildings in Tarbes, the department’s administrative capital, disrupting the work of officials implementing the vaccination campaign, they said. The government, backed by the main FNSEA farming union, maintains that total culling of infected herds is necessary to prevent the disease from spreading and triggering export bans that would devastate the sector. But the Coordination Rurale, a rival union, opposes the systematic culling approach, calling instead for targeted measures and quarantine protocols. “There is no question of culling animals in the Pyrenees that are not sick and are healthy, simply because they belong to a herd from which a supposedly sick animal came,” said Leon Thierry, co-president of CR in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques.