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Next: about 25 Sept 2027

Désalpe

At the end of September, cows of the Swiss Romande come down from the alpage wearing flowers and great bells, to village festivals.

Five grazing areas ("alps") behind Linthal (Glarus) each in individual sunshine-spots - note that the closer alps seem to be lower but are actually higher as they are closer to the point of the photographer - well above
Photo: Caumasee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cattle at Désalpe

In French-speaking Switzerland the descent from the summer pastures is the Désalpe. In villages such as Charmey in the Gruyère and Saint-Cergue in the Jura, it is a day of festival at the end of September or start of October. The herds walk down in procession, the best cows wearing headdresses of flowers and paper and the largest cowbells, with herders in their traditional embroidered jackets. Behind them come carts carrying the summer's equipment and the wheels of alpine cheese. Villages hold markets of local produce and crafts, and alphorn players and yodelling choirs perform through the day.

The breeds

SimmentalThe red and white cow of the western Swiss alps.Holstein FriesianNow common in the dairy herds of the Swiss lowlands.HérensThe dark cow of the Valais alpages.
About this page

Written by the EveryCow desk with AI assistance. Background: "Alpine transhumance" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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