MADRID — As bullfighting aficionados await the new season, breeders are fretting that their beasts might not be up to snuff: skinny, tender-footed and achy, and even sporting longer hair, all because of a miserably wet winter.
The rain in Spain has been coming down hard almost every day for two months in Andalusia and Extremadura, the southern regions where most fighting-bull ranches are.
All that water causes the bulls’ hooves to swell and soften, and makes their joints sensitive.
“You try it. Spend two months with your feet in water and see how they end up,” said Alfonso Vazquez, foreman at Fuente Ymbro, a ranch in Cadiz province.
Furthermore, bulls won’t eat wet feed pellets, and because of the weather they spend more energy keeping warm — meaning the first ones to head into the ring this year will be about 55 pounds off an average weight.
Looking ahead to the full-blown spring and summer, no one is worried because the sun will eventually emerge and dry everything out.
The Associated Press
