Ribeira de Pena, Portugal, Aug. 26, 2025 (Lusa) - With no pasture for the Maronesas cows after one of the fires that burned the Alvão mountain range, the farmers of Favais, in Ribeira de Pena, received straw and hay on Tuesday to help feed the animals.

"It's a time when the animals have been left without a square metre of pasture, it's burnt right up to the door of the stables and the animals need to eat every day, we can't wait for the vegetation to burst out again," said Avelino Rego, a Maronese cattle producer in Alvadia.

After the fire that destroyed the pastures on 8 August, which raged between Favais, Alvadia and Lamas, in the Alvão mountains, in the municipality of Ribeira de Pena, animal feed was distributed today to help mitigate the impact.

The 64 rolls of straw and 64 rolls of hay were offered by a group of businessmen and individuals from Leiria, who came together after seeing the destruction left by the fire, and also by farmers from Grândola, in this case, with transport paid for by the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP) and the municipality of Ribeira de Pena.

'We were able to help and show that we are united with the people of Favais, who were completely surrounded by the fire,“ said Avelino Rego, who pointed to almost '100% of the pasture area affected”.

In these villages in the Alvão mountains, many people make their living from producing Maronesa cows. The production method is extensive, and the cows go out to the hills every day, but after the fire blackened the hills, the producers were forced to resort to the reserves they had saved for the winter to feed the cattle.

Venâncio Faria, who has 10 head of maronesa cattle, said that he was left with "no pasture at all" and that is why today came a great help to feed his animals, to which he has been giving some corn and hay from the reserves that he wasn't supposed to start using until October.

"They're already eating it now, and all the mudflats there have burnt down," he said.

His cows have been getting out every day, and he puts them in a field where he leaves some corn.

 "I'm putting corn in them that was supposed to be for grain," he said, considering that the fire has caused great damage to these producers, but not only because, he explained, "it's going to make everything more expensive, like meat".

Because, he pointed out, "without having to feed the animals, everything will become much more expensive". "It's bad for the whole country, not just for us," he emphasised, pointing out that the Alvão mountain range burned down in Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Vila Real and Mondim de Basto and many more across the country.

What's more, he said that the marshes that burned "will never give hay like they used to".

Venâncio Faria described "enormous sadness" and recalled that on the 8th, the village was completely surrounded by fire within a few hours.

Flávio Costa Gaspar has 10 maroon cows and five bullocks and said that he has been feeding the animals with green maize and hay.

"We don't usually put out hay at this time," he said, adding that some farmers have nowhere to leave their cows, and so they have been left in the barns.

For this producer, the help delivered today is very important because, around here, you can't get hay to put out for the cattle or brushwood to make bedding.

Fernandina Costa has two adult cows and four smaller ones, and said that now they can't even walk on the hill because everything has burnt down. "They have nothing to eat, nothing. We're worried about how they're going to get through the next few years because this place isn't going to grow at all in a short time," she said.

These are, he explained, "cows that graze on the hills, they don't stay in the fields".

Without any connection to Favais, Luís Sousa said that the initiative by Leiria's businessmen and individuals was simply aimed at helping those who need help the most as a result of the fires ravaging the country.

"We identified the needs and got to work. We used social networks for good and started a fundraising movement," said the businessman.

"This is a contribution from the farmers of Portugal, in this case from Grândola. We had a large number of farmers from the south offering straw and other types of food. This is the farmers' first need because they've completely run out of grazing land and the needs are urgent," said Francisco Pavão, from CAP.

Avelino Rego defended the need for these burnt areas to be the target of "serious investment" so that this cycle that has now culminated in fire doesn't happen again, and he said he was waiting for the opening of specific investment programmes in these areas.

The Alvão mountain range spreads across Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Ribeira de Pena, Vila Real and Mondim de Basto, and in the first few weeks of August, areas of the four municipalities burned in three different fires (Sirarelhos, Pinduradouro and Alvadia).

This month, more than 7,100 hectares have already burned in the Alvão mountain range.

PLI/ADB // ADB.

Lusa