German shepherds might lose their jobs because of global urbanization

In Germany, migratory shepherds are asking the authorities for help as they can no longer perform their professional duties. It is becoming difficult for German shepherds to find new pastures, as more and more lands are becoming “occupied by concrete constructions”, writes “Agro-Center”.

German shepherds, most of whom come from other countries, asked for financial support from the federal government but did not receive it yet. Nowadays, there are 950 commercial shepherds in Germany, and the number is decreasing.

German shepherd farms are an important branch of agriculture in the country in which the welfare of animals is of paramount importance: animals spend their lives grazing freely. But shepherds are finding it more and more difficult to find new pastures because of global urbanization.

The shepherd farms in Germany are considered to be a kind of repository of biotopes that contribute to the preservation of natural diversity. In the past, the wool of local sheep was a hit among exported goods until synthetic fabrics and competition from sheep wool producers from the Far East supplanted sheep’s wool of German production.