In Good Company

The cows range from three years to well into their teens. The breed is called Simmentaler, fondly referred to as “Fleckies”. After years of happy summers holidaying in the high pastures – eating, sleeping, tanning, and making lovely rich milk -- by the time they reach their latter teens they are rewarded just like other teenagers all over the world. Admittedly their trip to McDonalds is one way but still, it’s a change of scenery. McDonald’s, H-Junior informs me, is the largest purchaser of aged beef in the region. These days, few farmers in the area raise what was the traditional all-beige Pinzgauer breed. Around a decade ago the tide turned toward Fleckies, despite their propensity for leg problems and sunburn.

Alm milk, the organic milk that is produced in summer from free-grazing on alpine flowers and verdant grasses, is substantially different from conventional milk. For a start it has a rich golden hue, and its fat content is a creamy five or six per cent. There are 400 cows up here in summer, across a large swathe of mountainside shared by four farmers.