I have explained already a little about how cow farming works in the Alpine regions of Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland:
Usually, cows only spend the harshest winter months in their stables on the farms in the villages. As soon as the snow is gone and pastures start to show fresh green grass again, the cows (and often goats along with them) are taken to a mid-level height on the nearby mountains. This mostly happens around April, and they stay there no later than June. Once summer arrives, the herds move further up the mountains where they usually spend at least July and August; depending on the weather and other conditions, they may arrive at their highest pastures (called Alpe or Alm, depending on the region) as early as mid-June and stay until the middle or even end of September.
In any case, the return of the herds to their villages for the winter is a pivotal day for the entire village, signalling the "official" end of summer.
Saturday, the 5th of September, was that day for Bizau.
Kanisfluh at 7:30 from our room
On Friday, hotel staff had already advised all guests to move their cars from the central square between church, school, hotel and shop to other places where they would be out of the way from the herds walking through the village to the large pasture near the sports fields where they would be sorted and handed back to their owners to take them to their farms for winter.
My husband had wisely moved the car to such a safe place on Friday evening; it would have been rather difficult to find a good spot on Saturday morning.
The first animals and their minders arrived shortly after 10:30, eagerly awaited by the crowd on the square and along the route. Some of them had been on their way since sunrise; several of their summer quarters are quite far up, and you can't rush a herd of cows along steep, narrow mountain paths. The herders marked the important occasion having adorned their hats with wild flowers and branches, as well as their cows wearing "crowns", some with crosses, and bearing the names of their Alpes.
The noise, sights, sounds (and a bit of smell) was quite something to behold! I want to show you a video that O.K. made, but I'm afraid it's too large for here; I'll ask him to send me the shortened version he also made.
In the meantime, here is a photo showing the back end (literally) of the procession of cows on their way to being sorted.
We followed the last of the groups to the sorting field and watched the sorting for a while. It's clearly not a job for the faint hearted! The young men and women handling the cows had to be very much "hands on", and most of them looked a little worse for wear after a while, but as far as we could see, nobody came to any harm; most of the cows were placid. Only two large ones - obviously the "bosses" of their respective herds - briefly got into a fight, but were quickly separated by their skilled herders.
Eventually, we had seen enough and went back to the hotel to change into hiking clothes. Since it was already early afternoon, we opted for the "Goßarweag" (goat herder's path) around the village, the same one we had done in 2023. (Click on the year to reach my post from back then, if you want to learn more and compare pictures.)
It had rained early in the morning and intermittently a few times, but not enough to make the paths dangerously slippery (some of them are quite steep).
After the walk, we still had time for a bit of a rest in our room before showering and changing for dinner. And of course, we went out again after the meal for a short evening walk and were rewarded with this fantastic sunset view across Bizau:
That is some sunset! Your description of the cows somehow reminded me of reading "Heidi" when I was about eleven years old. I must go back and read it and see if it is mentioned there, the way you describe the cows being moved. For some reason, I most recall the description of eating a boiled egg!
ReplyDeleteBoiled eggs would have made (and still do) a good snack to take along for the move; nutritious, easily available and safe on transport. For hikes with our parents or long trips in the car, my Mum always took (among other things) boiled eggs along. I remember how I did not always want one because it made me thirsty.
DeleteRichard always eats his boiled egg in an egg cup with a tiny spoon! He taught our son to dip strips of toast in a softboiled egg, "soldiers"! I must admit, I liked doing that too! I love eggs!
DeleteSo all of the cows are mixed together when they are up in the high pasture? How do the shepherds keep track of their herd? Do some cows go missing? It sounds very confusing to me. But it looks like an exciting event when they return to town...
ReplyDeleteUsually, one Alpe will host the cows of one owner, unless the herd is very small. Then there might be two or more groups of cows together. But the herders know their animals individually, and even I as a total stranger can tell them apart quite easily. They are not the mass-producing poor creatures that all look the same, kept in endless rows in a stable; they roam freely. I don't have statistics but I can imagine that occasionally, a cow can get hurt on the difficult terrain, or become sick just like any animal, but the herders are always close by, living on the Alpe with them.
DeletePS: And if they're dairy cows (not young males raised for the meat), the herders will see them every day for the milking and instantly notice if something is amiss.
DeleteLike Kay I thought of Heidi ; like Ellen I wonder how shepherds keep track of herds
ReplyDeleteand missing cattle. Maybe it's not a problem. I'm sure they're good at what they do.
Do walkers go up to the higher pastures, Alpe or Alm ? Are there better views up there ?
I assume hikers would not go into fields and frighten the cattle.
It's said that Scotland doesn't have Trespass Laws but we do.
A Right To Roam was passed in 2003 but it doesn't allow people to roam in gardens,
sports, playing fields, fields with crops, airfields, railways, quarries.
However you can cross and access most land and inland water just not military bases
and construction sites ; the same in Austria and Germany I should think ?
Again, a great day out. The sky over Kanisfluh looked like a typical Glasgow morning.
See my reply to Ellen, Jack. Those herds are not the hundreds or thousands of animals one might imagine on the large plains in America: at most there will be a few dozen to one single herd. Some of the groups returning that day weren't larger than five or six cows, some were in the range of 20 or 30.
DeleteYes, walkers go up there, as did we, and of course the views are great there. Many of my pictures from this holiday were taken from paths leading by or across such pastures. Hikers are allowed to cross the pastures where the path leads through them, but it is always clearly marked so that you know you're on "Cow territory" now, and it is forbidden to take a dog not on a leash.
We had, and in some places still have, a similar system of cow farming in certain hilly areas in mid/north in Sweden. Farmers built special simpler "summer farms" and moved up there together with their cattle in summer. (Or some of the staff did.) Called "fäbod/ar" in Swedish. Not my area of expertise, but looking it up now I see that some farmers who still practise this have also turned those places into tourist attractions.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that farmers in different parts of the world do the same things that make sense in their area, under their circumstances, to get the best out of their land and their live stock.
DeleteWow, this was interesting to read about. It reminded me a little of "Heidi" and her "alm-uncle" and how they moved the goats up and down the mountain. And I also wonder if this activity is the origin of the phrase "until the cows come home"?
ReplyDeleteNow that I've commented and then went back and read the other comments, I see I'm not the only one who thought of Heidi.
DeleteHeidi is set in Switzerland, and the author, Johanna Spyri, based her books on the real lives and circumstances of people. Since Austria and Switzerland are bordering on each other, and share the same mountainous region of the Alps, it is not surprising that the people there should have developed similar ways of life and methods of farming. There was also always trade and migration going on between the countries.
DeleteThat would be an interesting sight to see. They do a similar round-up of Herdwick sheep in our Lake District.
ReplyDeleteI guess the sheep make enough of their own noise when this happens, but the bells each and every cow is carrying means the moving herds can be heard a long way off!
DeleteAnd oh, haha, yes, we all think of Heidi!
ReplyDeleteSee my reply to Jennifer :-)
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