Village using EU-subsidised sheep to maintain meadows

The small village of Olbramov is short of money it needs to mow tens of hectares of meadows belonging to it, therefore it has used a EU subsidy to buy sheep to maintain the land, and it loans the animals to others for the same purpose, Mirka Valova has told CTK.

Valova, deputy mayor of Olbramov, a village with 65 inhabitants, said Olbramov bought the sheep for part of the 190,000-crown subsidy it had gained within the EU's Leader+ programme.

"We have only few sheep for now. To feed all our meadows down, there would have to be twice or thrice as many of them," said Valova.

She said this method of maintenance brings farming subsidies to the village, as the EU gives preference to it.

Other villages and farms reportedly eye the method as well.