Did you know that many of the LIFEstockProtect team members have their own livestock to take care of? Because of this, April definitely has been an eventful month, on the farm and in the office. The project team also got to virtually meet potential members of the Alpine LIFEstockProtect Competence Center Network, 25 of them to be specific. Also, one of the crucial aspects of the project besides the implementation of livestock protection through training courses is effective communication. Thus, we are very happy to report an outstanding outreach in the first 8 months of the project.
Please also read: Human Dimensions In Livestock Protection
The project has reached millions
If you have been following the project from the beginning, you know that it has been continuously on the news – on TV, in the radio and in printed media – thanks to the great effort of the project partnership. You can find an overview of the news appearances in our LIFEstockProtect in the news section of the website. Overall, we recorded more than 150 news appearances in the 8 months since the start of the project, which amounts to an outreach of more than 80 million people across the project region in Austria, Bavaria and South Tyrol, but also throughout the whole of Germany and Italy and across Europe.
This success shows that the practical focus of the project, as well as the collaboration between agricultural organisations, scientists, tourism operators, and NGO’s is well received by the media and the general public. Given that these numbers already top our initial aim for the project period of 5 years, we have set the target high and will continue with diverse and targeted communication activities including articles, videos, podcasts, conferences and more. Here is a selection of the news appearances in April 2021:
Project progress across all actions
Starting with on-site scat dog trainings, to the finalisation of an analysis of the use of livestock guarding dogs in the project region, to an online questionnaire to be launched soon and the search for sites for the assessment of livestock protection on biodiversity, the progress we made in April 2021 also shows the diversity of LIFEstockProtect and that team effort pays off.
One of the main happenings were two informational sessions for farms who were interested in becoming a competence centre. The LIFEstockProtect team got to meet them virtually, presented the idea behind a competence center and got to know the specific situation of each farm. Many of them already have experience with livestock protection measures, whereas some will start implementing them by collaborating with the project. No matter what the current situation is, they will be supported by livestock protection experts along the way and of course compensated for their efforts. In the next weeks they will also be visited in order to make a plan about what kind of trainings their farms and pastures allow for.
Beginning of the pasture season – also for LIFEstockProtect team members
Have you ever wondered who the faces behind LIFEstockProtect are? Soon we will publish individual portraits of all team members so you can learn more about them. But something is for sure: all have a connection to livestock or nature in one way or the other. Many of them are also farmers, at least part-time. Thus, in April 2021 farming duties called. For example Gwendolyn Manek from Bioland relentlessly supported the lambing season in a dairy goat farm, where more than 90 fawns were born!
