Alpine Farming on the Ackernalm

How often have I hiked across flowering alpine meadows or been accompanied by the sound of cowbells on my treks, all while longing for untouched wilderness. I gradually overlooked what diverse and ecologically rich landscapes human cultivation in the Alpine region has created over the centuries.

The expansion of grazing with livestock – cows, sheep, or goats – from the valleys to high-altitude summer pastures in the mountains has profoundly shaped the appearance of the mountain landscapes. Alpine pastures provide natural habitats for a unique biodiversity of numerous animals and plants on the open meadows. Without alpine farming, the mountain meadows would almost entirely be overgrown with bushes and forests again. Biodiversity and agriculture are therefore not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, intact, environmentally conscious alpine farming is even a prerequisite for the special biodiversity found on the alpine pastures.

Thus, mountain farmers, dairymaids, herdsmen, and shepherds still ensure today that the cultural landscape, created and valued by many, is preserved. The summer grazing on the alpine pasture – or ‘Alp’ depending on the region – is referred to as Sömmerung or Alpbestoßung. Alpine farming is often subject to centuries-old usage regulations by local farmers or communities, for example, as a lease or as a right-of-use pasture belonging to a specific farm.

Even today, alpine farming is still hard work, even if electrically operated milking machines, motorised transport, and living quarters with heating, electricity, or running (hot) water in some alpine huts make the stay and work easier. Nevertheless, caring for the animals, maintaining the pastures, milking and mucking out, as well as managing the remote household, remain strenuous activities. On hiking tours, you experience the alpine herdsmen or the concept of alpine farming in a different context, namely when they provide thirsty and hungry hikers with fresh delicacies, often made on the alpine pasture itself, such as alpine cheese and butter, bacon, or ham.

Therefore, I was very pleased and grateful to have the opportunity this summer to gain a deeper insight into the daily life of mountain farmers. Two colleagues at my company lease an alpine hut – one colleague’s wife spends the summer on the Ackernalm in the Brandenberg Alps as a dairymaid and is supported by her husband at weekends. Another colleague manages the Roßalm in the Chiemgau Mountains, the highest alpine pasture in the Upper Bavarian Mountains, with his family and an additional dairyman. My first visit took me to the Ackernalm in July on a damp, foggy day.

The Ackernalm is an alpine pasture located at an altitude of around 1,400 metres in the municipality of Thiersee in Tyrol. It stretches across the southern slopes of the Hinteres Sonnwendjoch and the northern slopes of the Veitsberg and Thalerjoch. From spring until autumn, it is also easily accessible to visitors by car via a toll road, which climbs about 600 metres over 6 km and currently costs 5 EUR (2020). On a saddle between the Thiersee valley and the Brandenberger Ache, numerous alpine huts, also known as ‘Kaser’, a show dairy, an inn, and a small chapel stand together. A small, sociable community gathers there every summer. Not all alpine huts are still used for agriculture. Some are leased, artists appreciate the special natural atmosphere, and companies also use such huts for events and conferences.

From June to the end of September, the dairymaid usually looks after 20 cows and 2 young calves all by herself. The cows are allowed to roam freely on the alpine meadows all day and are brought back to the barn twice a day for milking – the herd doesn’t always come back completely and voluntarily; often, individual cows have to be gathered from their widely scattered locations and driven to the barn, even in bad weather or at dark dawn.

Milking time for the herd is 5 AM and 5 PM respectively. The animals have their fixed assigned places where they are led. They stay in the barn for about 2 hours before going back to the pasture. Before milking, the udders are cleaned with straw. Then the teat cups of the milking machine, which are connected via hoses to the central vacuum pump, are pushed over the teats. Since organic farming is practised here, the cows are not optimised for maximum milk yield and give between 15 to 30 litres of milk in approximately ten minutes of milking time.

The milk flows through hoses and fixed pipes through a filter, is cooled, and finally ends up in a large stainless steel barrel on a tractor trailer. The fresh milk is then driven the few hundred metres to the nearby dairy immediately after milking and pumped out there. Before that, the teats and udders are rubbed with milking grease, and the animals are checked for diseases or injuries. Kindly, I was warned beforehand about the following spectacle, which might seem rather unsavoury to some delicate individuals.

As soon as the first cows finish milking, they each spray enormous fountains of excrement into the central aisle of the barn. The huge cowpats are then shovelled and pushed into the slurry pit. Lucky are those wearing wellington boots. Finally, the milking system also needs to be rinsed and cleaned, as strict hygiene regulations apply to food processing. With the help of four extra hands, it goes faster, but still took two hours today.

Since two cows had recently calved, the calves also needed to be cared for. As mother cows protect their offspring and therefore react aggressively to other cows (and also to approaching people and dogs on the pasture), the young animals are kept in boxes in the barn for their own protection and fed by hand with fresh milk. For this, the milk is poured into a bucket with a rubber nipple, which is then hung on the gate. The young calf drinks the bucket empty through the artificial teat in no time.

While further daily tasks await in the barn and hut after a break, I get to set off on a lovely day hike to the Hinteres Sonnwendjoch.