Till the cows come home

End of summer means the cheeses are shared out and the cows come down from the alps to the farms. In the Justistal, the other side of the Sigriswiller Rothorn, people gather to celebrate with food, wine and music.

The cheeses are taken out of the storage huts, rolled from hand to hand along a line of men and stacked on planks.

Our next door neighbour Andreas Loosli was there, in traditional costume, with his daughter Stephanie (who takes my hay for her goats).

He joined in the passing of the cheese - and later claimed his share.

Outside this hut was stacked 5,000 kg of cheese. Six huts means 30,000 kg of cheese - over half a million Francs at 20 francs per kilo.

Then its time to collect your cheeses, have one last glass of wine, and follow the decorated cows down the valley to the village.

And here are the cows passing our house, at the end of the walk.