La vache meugle

A little while (and by a little while I mean last year) I wrote about the Desalpes festival where the cows parade down the mountain wearing giant flower headdresses and huge cow bells.  This is what the cows do right before they get paraded through town.  In the summer, cows go on vacation to the top of the Jura and the Alps to eat sweet Alpen grass.  These high elevation stables are called 'alps' - for instance, we hiked to Bigenalp.  The cows stay up in the alps for about 100 days and farmers hire people to care for and milk the cows, and of course make the cheese.  Each alp also has pigs.   The cheesemaking leaves gross leftovers which could damage the ecosystem.   The pigs eat the gross leftovers of the cheesemaking process.  


According to the locals + guidebooks, the cows really do have legal rights in Switzerland (for instance in the winter they have to be taken out for exercise a certain number of times per week).  It's really wonderful to see these big animals roaming about.  Plus they are really cute and make delicious cheese.  


We took a cable car from Wegner to Mannlichen and when we got out one of the first things we heard were cow bells.  We walked out of the lift station and there were cows roaming amongst a beautiful backdrop.  It was really amazing how far the cowbell sound travels.  We now understand why cow bells are a necessity - cows can get very lost in the vast valley and the sound really carries!