Working for a farmer in the Swiss Alps – is it as romantic as it seems?

‘I want to go to the mountains!’ came to my mind when the restlessness manifested itself in my private life. I immediately remembered another wish: to work there for a farmer. I have been coming to Switzerland since I was a child and I can reflect on an authentic life on an alpine pasture with a few cows, a wooden stable and the smell of wild herbs in the house. Outside all day, majestic peaks in the distance. Was this the perfect time to finally do that? To expand the situation at home, in the Alps, with a mountain farmer? So two birds with one stone?

So here I am. Two months after that inspiration. On a farm at an altitude of 800 metres in the village of Trin in the canton of Graübunden. Invited by the friendly Esther and Bernhard Zigerlig, both in their sixties, beef farmers for 35 years and owners of thirty cows and as many calves. Soon, when the time comes, the eldest son will take over the farm. The surrounding landscape is beautiful, with forests and mountains, nearby is the spectacular Rhine Gorge and two lovely bright green lakes: Crestasee and Caumasee.

Chief of the Alps

On my first day at work, the alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. As I struggle to wake up, the house already smells of food. Downstairs, the table is set with bread, muesli and coffee. Bernhard packs things for our trip to the Alps: water, nutritious biscuits, walking sticks, hiking boots. We go to the cows. In summer they stay with their calves in the high meadows. There are shepherds there to look after them, but today the herd (250 cows from ten farmers) has to be guided along the rocks to get from one pasture to the next. Help is needed with this.

The journey there is on demanding mountain roads. “Just like in the Dakar Rally!” jokes Fredy Casty behind the wheel. He is also a farmer and cook on this mountain deep in the Bargis valley. An alpine chef looks after the shepherds every summer and is the first point of contact if something happens in the Alps. On arrival there is a steep climb up to 2,550 metres. We are walking in the clouds. In the fog you can understand why the cows are wearing bells, because almost at the top (thank God) you can’t see any animals, but the jingling is getting closer and closer.

Then, in a wild alpine meadow with flowers, rocks and mud, the herd emerges. The shepherds drive beige, brown and black cows towards us and onto the path along the rocks. It is a wonderfully beautiful sight. We help, wave sticks, shout “Hup ji!” and trudge through the grass full of deep holes, plowed by hooves.

Emotions explode

After the work is over, Pastor Ruben Plattner (who works as a technical engineer and trainer during the rest of the year) tells how during the first few weeks he suffered from muscle pain from walking on the steep slopes. And how some days here are exhausting and hard, and others are almost magical. Either way: in this wild mountain world emotions burst forth. According to the pastor, nothing can be hidden.

When we get back to the farm, we put on our dry shoes and immediately continue on to another hill where Esther has been mowing hay all morning. She does this together with Brendan Gliott, who is working with the farming couple this summer as a social service, which in our country is an option in addition to military service. It is midday, but it feels like I’ve already had a day. We have lunch in the field with a kind of risotto and plum cake, and I, as a newcomer, am the only one who gets a pillow.

Then I help with haymaking. And the days after that too. We have a fixed rhythm: we put the dried and cut grass into strips for the hay machine. It picks it up and then drives to the farm. Because in many places the slopes are steep and impassable for the tractor, this preparatory work is also done by hand. With large rakes and blowers.

When we get home, we shower, eat and enjoy a cold Graübunden beer. Bernhard always seems satisfied. “We are our own boss and we work outside. We hardly ever go on holiday, but we live in an environment where people go on holiday.”

It is hard work, especially in the full sun. However, on the third day I hear myself say to Esther: “You have a good life.” It is clear and meaningful. Hay is winter food for the cows, which are then in the stable and have their calves, so every season requires work. Soon, in early autumn, before the first snow falls, they will bring the cattle down during the traditional Alpabzug. An emotional moment according to Esthe. Her cows have returned in one piece.

Glow

On the morning of my departure, after almost a week, I actually don’t want to leave. They were wonderful, difficult and educational days. On the plateau among the cows. On the slopes while collecting hay. On the farm where Esther often got up at five and prepared everything for a day in the Alps: lunch, coolers filled with PET bottles of water and lemonade, plates and cutlery. “We must be strong and prepared. Always ready to work, to determine the weather conditions.”

My idyllic image is partly shattered. It’s much harder work than I thought. Unpredictable too – for example, don’t make hay when it rains. And those picturesque stables and wooden houses on the hillsides are now abandoned or owned by villagers. But working every summer day in a place that smells of wild herbs is a pleasure.

The topics of the day are missing here too. The times I opened my laptop while making hay in the shade, I immediately felt the world closing in on me. Emails. Information. Noise. I always quickly closed the device again. I preferred to climb onto Bernhard’s hay wagon. This mountain life is simple and that gives clarity. Here I could separate the wheat from the chaff. I know what is important again.

Would you also like to work for a (mountain) farmer?

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