Re:Check: Claim that EU is forcing Latvia to cull a quarter of its cows is false

Belarusian media and disinformation spreaders in Latvia claim that the European Union is forcing Latvia to sharply reduce its cow population and that the country will "kill a quarter of its cows." The fact-checking project Re:Check concludes that this is untrue: the EU makes no such demand, and Latvia has no such plans.

How the story emerged

On 6 October, the Russian-language outlet BB.lv published a report claiming that, to meet environmental requirements, Latvia was rapidly cutting cattle numbers and would be left with 94,000 dairy cows by 2027. The author is Nikolajs Kabanovs, a Riga City Council member from the party "Stabilitātei!". He cited a Ministry of Agriculture report as his source, but it contains no such claim.

The next day, the Belarusian outlet Capital TV republished the piece and also wrongly stated that Latvia currently has 120,000 dairy cows; last year the figure was nearly 112,000. Belarus's First Channel claimed Latvia was destroying its agriculture because of EU subsidies. Later in October, several disinformation spreaders in Latvia picked up the Capital TV report, and posts on social media gathered a combined 170,000 views.

What the report actually says

The ministry document lists climate targets related to dairy cows for 2023–2027. The first is to introduce feed ration planning and improve feed quality for 75,000 cows; the second is to double the number of organic dairy cows to 17,000. Together that makes 92,000, close to the figure cited by BB.lv, but it is not a planned herd size. The ministry confirmed that the EU does not require cutting cow numbers and that no such reduction is planned.

Cattle produce methane during digestion, which has a warming effect 28 times greater than carbon dioxide. Data from the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre show that cattle digestion accounts for 8.4% of Latvia's emissions, and dairy cow digestion for 5%. Latvia itself drafts its National Energy and Climate Plan and decides how to reach its climate goals.

The outlet's response

Kabanovs did not substantively answer Re:Check's question about his data source. BB.lv editor-in-chief Andrejs Švedovs denied that the article stated there would be only 94,000 cows in 2027. The newsroom did not correct the article but added a note that 94,000 would not be the total number of dairy cows in Latvia, and gave the exact number of dairy cows for 2025.