Bavarian villagers are celebrating the return of their cows from the mountains with folk dancing and other customs including dressing the lead cow with a garland of flowers, if all the animals survived the summer.
The cattle herders have to float the stock across the Koenigsee Lake because it is the only way to bring the cattle home to their owners a tradition known in German as Viehscheid.
From time immemorial, at about the middle of June every year as soon as the Allgäu Alpine pastures are snow free, the young cattle have been driven up to the mountain meadows.
The tradition of driving cattle up to the mountain pastures is carried out for several very good reasons. Firstly, there are just not enough meadows down in the valley to provide for all the cattle especially as hay also has to be harvested for the long winter months to come. But that’s not the only reason. Spending the summer months higher up the mountains makes the animals more hardy as well as the fact that the sweet grass and mountain herbs taste good and are very healthy. No wonder that the Allgäu milk products are renowned for their quality.
You can head over to http://www.allgaeu-viehscheid.de/ where you can buy a Kuh Kalendar
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