May 28, 2017 | Travel, Valais,

A Valais Tradition – Cow Fights

Beatrice Lessi

Dirndl Day

I admit it: every excuse is good for me to wear a Dirndl, at least when a traditional event takes place. This time I was invited to an evening organised by sport journalist and TV presenter Rainer Maria Salzgeber, who is from Valais and a real connoisseur of its territory. Once a year he shows Zurich a real – and emotionally charged – cow fight. Drinks and a delicious dinner in restaurant Baracca Zermatt complete the offer.

The Fight

The cows are a special type, the Herens: an ancient, traditional Valais breed with a highly combative temperament. Every spring, on the journey up to the high mountain pastures, they lock horns. The winning ‘queen’ becomes leader of the herd for the summer. This led to the development of the tradition of cow fighting, drawing many breeders and a large audience.

My Reaction

I was very fascinated by the whole event and its utter “Swissness”. I had never seen anything like it and it reminded me of a Spanish corrida. However, in this case, the cows only get light injuries and a lot of caresses from their owners, at the end of the fight. Having said that, I might be wrong, but I also perceived a lot of stress from the animals. They were sweating and salivating and breathing very hard, and fought to exhaustion. This belongs to nature for sure, but I felt bad at watching the fight from the audience – somehow we were not in a natural situation at all. I only felt better at the end, when I did realise that the cows were not in a bad state. I also had the impression their owners love them a lot.

VIP Pictures

A big thank you to Rainer Maria Salzgeber and his wife Chantal for the great day. Also to photographer Geri Born of Schweizer Illustrierte, for the pictures you can see below.

Among the well-known guests of the event there was the Chairman of the Swiss People’s Party Toni Brunner, and Thomas Matter , both from a political orientation which is opposite to mine, but great guests and entertainers! All in all, a very special experience that showed me a part of Switzerland, Valais, I knew only as a runner and would love to get to know even more.