The Association
of “Haflinger” Horse Breeding
in => five “Sections”
Haflinger-Pentagon LLC
   

The breeding programme for the Haflinger horse breed as a model for the concept of an umbrella organisation

 

=> The Federal Office for Agriculture (BLW), with its Head of Department Christian Stricker, is on a collision course.

=> In conflict with the umbrella organisation Haflinger-Pentagon, Sàrl-GmbH and the provisions of the Horse Breeding Ordinance, effective from 1 January 2026 — Agricultural Policy AP 22+ — is turning the entire horse breeding sector in Switzerland on its head.

=> As set out in the articles of association of the GmbH and in conjunction with the Swiss Government and the entire Federal Council, the demand placed on purebred horse breeding is to professionalise the sector — this is the number one priority. This means that the previous conceptual understanding of a breeding organisation must give way to a new definition of purebred horse breeding, which has a completely different, forward-looking impact.

=> Professional purebred horse breeding by the breeding organisations recognised as Swiss horse breeds — Freiberger, Haflinger and Warmbloods — focuses on common, central breeding objectives, which have been in force since 1 January 2026.

=> The Federal Council places the breeding programmes at the heart of its support and sets out the guidelines that ensure an => appropriate impact in the following areas:

1. Economic efficiency => profitability

2. Product quality => purity of breed

3. Resource efficiency => making optimal use of means of production and maintaining them as reserves.

4. Animal health — animal welfare and the environment.

=> Furthermore, the Federal Council wishes to see a more scientific approach to animal and horse breeding.

=> Scoring as a means of recording breeding traits, or genetic evaluation as a method of assessment, is no longer sufficient.

=> Purebred horse breeding requires the application of a breeding method, e.g. population genetics in the stud’s breeding programme, and the willingness of members to put individualised stud breeding into practice.

=> Breed-specific horse breeding, in detail, is moving away from the uniform concept of a breed definition in favour of breeding under the joint ownership of a stud management team.

=> A stud’s breeding horse population, with collective ownership of the breeding stock – as exemplified by the Haflinger Horse Breeding Association of Tyrol, Fohlenhof Ebbs, is regarded as a stud breeding management structure worthy of emulation, which takes the breed umbrella organisation Haflinger-Pentagon, Sàrl-GmbH as its model and offers it as a template.

It is precisely these new requirements — professionalisation, scientific rigour and shared, central breeding objectives — that can only be met through a structure coordinating across departments and sections: through an umbrella organisation. The Haflinger model is living proof that such a structure could work, which is what we are now demanding of the Federal Council as a whole through its recognition as an umbrella organisation.
The rejection of the term ‘umbrella organisation’ by the Head of the Federal Office for Agriculture (BLW), Christian Stricker, is therefore at odds with the Federal Council’s own objectives.

Courtepin, 26 August 2026

Haflinger-Pentagon Sàrl – GmbH
i. V. Hansruedi Vonlanthen