Thursday, 18 October 2018 10:21

Climb every mountain

Written by 

You would be udderly surprised to encounter a Simmental or Braunvieh running up the steps of New York’s One World Trade Center or Shanghai’s equally tall World Financial Center. 

But that’s the kind of climb – albeit on dirt trails, not concrete steps – a typical Swiss dairy cow makes every summer. 

According to the Swiss Federal Agricultural Office, about 270,000 cows are marched from their valley farms to mountain meadows at the start of every summer, just to come back down again in early autumn. Why do it?

Dairy farmers have incentives to herd their cattle high. On the one hand, they get top dollar for the aromatic ‘Alp cheese’ made from the milk of their livestock. From June to early September, alpine pastures serve up a smorgasbord of hundreds of different grasses and herbs for the cows to graze. Lower in the valley there are only a few types.

More like this

EU tractor sales hit the brakes

According to numbers sourced from national authorities, 151,800 tractors were registered across Europe in 2023, of which 26,200 tractors (17%) were 37kW (50 hp) and under and 131,900 (83%) were 38kW and above.

Papal visit

OPINION: European farmers are going to extreme lengths to have their message heard.

Farmer fury

OPINION: Farmer protests have swept Europe in recent weeks.

Heat wave

OPINION: The heat wave that hit Europe last week has forced a rethink among UK dairy farmers who normally graze their cows outdoors in summer.

Featured

National

Machinery & Products

Farming smarter with technology

The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

110,000 visitors!

OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.

Sticky situation

OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter