Mountain and alpine: its breeds

Built for steep ground

On a slope every step costs effort, so a mountain cow needs a lighter body, a good heart and lungs, and legs that can brace on uneven ground. Breeds such as the Tyrolean Grey, the Hérens and the original Braunvieh of Switzerland stand lower and weigh less than the big lowland dairy breeds. They walk to the grass rather than having it brought to them, and they keep condition on short alpine turf. Farmers in the hills often say a heavy, high-yielding cow does poorly up there: she tires, slips and loses weight.

The alpine year

In the Alps, herds go up to the summer pasture, the alp or alpage, in June and come down in September. Milk made on the alp is turned into butter and hard cheese in huts on the mountain. The return to the valley, called Alpabzug in German-speaking Switzerland and Austria and désalpe in French-speaking Switzerland, is a festival in many villages: if the summer passed without loss, the lead cows wear headdresses of flowers and large bells. In Valais, Hérens cows settle their order in the herd by locking horns, and the contests are now held as public shows.

Hill cattle of the Himalaya

In the Indian Himalaya, small native cattle are kept by almost every hill household. The Badri of Uttarakhand is a light, hardy animal that forages on forest edges and terraced fields and gives a little milk. The Siri of Sikkim, the Darjeeling hills and Bhutan is larger and has long been used for ploughing on the terraces. Higher still, in Ladakh, cattle give way to yak and to the dzo and dzomo, crosses of yak and cattle that do well at middle altitudes where neither parent is at its best.

Western Ghats and other ranges

Mountain cattle are not only cold-climate cattle. The Malnad Gidda of Karnataka's Western Ghats is a dwarf breed of the wet hill forests, small enough to pick its way between trees and along steep paths, and able to live on leaves and forest grass. In the Caucasus, the Georgian Mountain cattle are among the smallest of the region. In the Pyrenees and the Massif Central, breeds such as the Aubrac and the Salers were shaped by summer pastures on high plateaus and by long walks between valley and hill.

Worth knowing

• Brown Swiss: From the Swiss Alps, now kept in dairies worldwide
• Hérens: Small black cows of Valais, known for their horn contests
• Tyrolean Grey: Hardy grey cattle of the Tyrol
• Pinzgauer: Red and white cattle of the Salzburg Alps
• Badri: Hill cattle of Uttarakhand
• Siri: Draught cattle of Sikkim, Darjeeling and Bhutan
• Malnad Gidda: Dwarf cattle of the Western Ghats
• Alpabzug and désalpe: The decorated return from summer pasture

Good to know

• Choose a lighter, sure-footed breed for steep ground; heavy cows tire and slip.
• Trim and check hooves before the herd goes up to summer pasture.
• Plan water points on high pasture, where springs can dry up by late summer.
• Bells help herders find cattle in fog and in broken ground.

Sources and further reading

• Transhumance on Wikipedia
• Hérens cattle, Wikipedia
• Brown Swiss cattle, Wikipedia
• Malnad Gidda, Wikipedia