Agriculture Thousands of people at the Alpine cattle drive from Charmey FR
Farming families decorate their animals before the cattle drive.
Image: Keystone
Final preparations for the departure of around 70 cows from the Alp Le Ganet.
Image: Keystone
Members and friends of the family often help with the cattle drive.
Image: Keystone
Several cows are adorned for the special occasion.
Image: Keystone
The cattle drive took place in rainy weather this year.
Image: Keystone
Farming families decorate their animals before the cattle drive.
Image: Keystone
Final preparations for the departure of around 70 cows from the Alp Le Ganet.
Image: Keystone
Members and friends of the family often help with the cattle drive.
Image: Keystone
Several cows are adorned for the special occasion.
Image: Keystone
The cattle drive took place in rainy weather this year.
Image: Keystone
The cattle drive from Charmey FR attracted several thousand onlookers on Saturday. Despite the rain, the public lined the streets of the Gruyère village in the morning to admire the procession of the herds of cows, as a photographer reported to the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The Charmey Alpine procession is one of the most traditional and popular Alpine processions in the canton of Fribourg: "As the cultural heritage of the Gruyère region and the canton of Fribourg, it makes the heart of an entire valley beat faster, filled for a day with the sound of bells and alphorns," explained the organizing committee.
As every year, the event marks the time when the cows and dairy farmers return from the Alps to their farms in the valley. They parade through the village of Charmey accompanied by the ringing of bells. The Alpine cattle drive took place for the first time in 1979.
Over the past ten years, an average of a handful of herds with 300 to 350 cows have marched along. The herdsmen and women walk an average of three hours to get to their farms. In total, 550 farmers manage around 600 summering farms. A good 40,000 animals were last counted on the canton's Alps.
SDA
