Cows of the Hérens Breed
While Val
d'Hérens is known for its skiing, snowshoeing, and even biathalon in winter,
and activities like mountain climbing, hiking, and parasailing in summer, it is
renowned for its Hérens breed of cattle. The breed is unique to Valais in
Switzerland and Valle d’Aoste in northern Italy. These stocky bovines
with rather short legs are perfectly suited to the steep alpine pastures where
they spend their summers. They are prized for their lean, flavourful meat, with
less bone waste and trim than other breeds. But they have one trait that
separates them from almost all other cattle…
When we met Franziska
Amstutz from Valais Tourism on the train to Zermatt, she said that she and her
colleagues were puzzled why we wanted to go to Val d'Hérens, so far off the usual
tourist track. Being such a French-speaking part of Switzerland, most of its
North American visitors are from Québec. She was surprised when we told her that
we had stumbled upon an anecdote about the cows of the Hérens breed – the famous “fighting cows.”
Indeed, it’s the females
of this breed who are born with a combative streak to seek dominance over
the herd. From an early age, pairs of cows will engage in head-to-head shoving
matches until one turns tail in “defeat.” Amadé Perrig, from Zermatt Tourism, recounted how his father would always acquire one Hérens cow for its meat. When he and other young lads with their families’ herds would meet in a
communal pasture, their Hérens cows would immediately get into
shoving matches until one reigned supreme. It’s no wonder the
dominant cow is give the title “La Reine” – the Queen.
Nowadays, regional cow-fighting competitions are popular. They start In
October, and finish with a national championship in early May – an event that
draws some 15,000 spectators. While these big competitions are a bit controversial, the bouts are usually very short, and few
animals are injured. The fights merely exploit the Hérens cows’ inbred instinct
to establish dominance.
After our tour of Evolène, Mireille Millier
Bourban drove us up a steep, unpaved track barely wider than her car. As we
inched by weekend hikers, she told us that we had missed by mere days participating in
a cattle drive from Evolène to a farmer’s high alpine pasture, where his
herd of Hérens cows would fatten
up until late autumn.
Stopping at a large pond formed
from a dammed spring, Mireille showed us photos
that she had taken during the cattle drive: cows were basking in the pond's shallows, a cooling break from their long, hot trek up the mountain. With
its stunning view of the
4,357-metre-high La Dent Blanche in the distance,
this pond is also a popular rest stop for hikers.
Still further up the mountain, we
met Marius Pannatier
at a flower-studded pasture where his herd of about 40 cows was
coralled. These cows were true heavyweights – weighing upwards
of 700 kilograms – and were being raised for their meat. The dominant Queen cow
had already been determined in fights on the
family farm back in Evolène. That way, the entire herd behaved itself during the drive up public roads and trails to the alpine meadows.
As we crossed the pasture, the massive
black bovines came up to us curiously, like huge friendly dogs. We had a bit of
difficulty walking on the steep, uneven ground, but the big creatures moved easily over the rough terrain, their heavy cowbells clanging rhythmically with
every step.
Marius showed a genuine attachment to his animals. When the recently deposed former queen of the herd came
to him, he said that she was depressed, and gave her the consoling attention she seemed to be seeking.
All the cows looked pretty much the same to us, but Marius knew each by name and by the unique sound of her bell.
While the hierachy of the herd was already
established, we saw a brief flash of these cows' combative natures when a young
cow moved too near the new queen: the sudden, forceful head-butt sent the interloper packing.
Marius made us laugh when he reached into a spring-fed
watering trough, and pulled out a bottle of chilled white wine.
Mireille produced a bottle of red wine from her packsack, and a big loaf of French bread. Marius had built a small campfire in the next field. We realized that we would be in for a real treat when he started melting a big half-round of hard Swiss cheese over the glowing embers.
The lightly smoke-tinged raclette (or
ruchia as it is known in the region), served atop a thick slice of bread, was
heavenly.
This simple picnic lunch in an open field, serenaded by
a symphony of cowbells in an amphitheatre of high mountain peaks, was one of
the highlights of our trip. May I paraphrase Omar Khayyam’s well-known poem,
“A loaf of bread (with
hot, smoke-tinged ruchia), a jug of wine, and cow…”
Nice story, one that doesn't rehash the same territory I read in too many other travel blogs. And fighting cows!? Not quite as remarkable as flying pigs, but pretty damned close.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind comment! We had asked to do something off the well-beaten tourism track, and were delighted they came up with the fighting cows from this supremely pretty corner of Val d'Hérens in Valais. We hope our story inspires you to see the cows yourself one day.
DeleteMost interesting post. Love the photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Contessa. Good photos are easy when subjects are so photogenic!
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