On 10th and 11th of August 2023, the networking meeting of the competence centres took place in Raumberg-Gumpenstein.
13 farmers (7 from Bavaria, 5 from Austria and 1 from South Tyrol) dedicated 2 days to the topic of livestock protection. Also present were Albin Blaschka from the Austrian Centre for Bear, Wolf, Lynx, Anna Huber (shepherdess) and Andreas Müllauer from Lagerhaus – an expert in wolf-proof fences.
On the first day there was an excursion to Hauser Kaibling. Albin Blaschka and Reinhard Huber from Raumberg-Gumpenstein, the Higher Education and Research Institute, showed us the alpine grazing area and how guided grazing with sheep characterises the alpine cultural landscape. The next day started with a visit to the experimental garden at the Institute of Higher Education and Research Raumberg-Gumpenstein. Various fencing systems were presented and difficulties and improvement measures were pointed out. The important topic of electrification/earthing was also discussed.
After the coffee break, there was information on species protection and ecosystem services, another livestock guarding project in Tyrol and the status quo of certification of livestock guarding dogs. Finally, problems and challenges of the competence centres, e.g. in the implementation of courses on the farms, were discussed and attempts were made to find solutions.
The meeting was very well received by the participants. There was a lot of discussion and networking. The 2 days were too short to be able to discuss all the topics sufficiently, so the next meeting is already being planned.
