One day of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress was devoted to choosing a day long (7am to 11pm!) excursion to Swiss farm operations. You could choose between various areas that included mountains and valleys. More than one included Swiss dairy and cheese production.
Cindy and I stayed at the hotel to “work” since we had talking news release projects and of course articles that you’ve already seen on AgWired. But thanks to the staff and other participants we have photos.
One of the most amazing stops on one of the excursions was to the Fighting Cows. I wish I could have been there to see that. Almost as good though is the video that Mari Bjørke, director of marketing, PR and communication for GENO in Norway, took using her mobile phone. The cows are wearing bells of course so when you hear the audio you can imagine what it must sound like to be right there. Thanks to Greg Lamp, Corn & Soybean Digest, for the story.
You can see the short 9 second video here in two formats: Fighting Cows (.3gp – 91K) and Fighting Cows (.avi – 6MB)
Holy Cow, Fights
Who’d have guessed in the peaceful, serene mountaintop in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, you’d find fighting cows. Really, cows that attack each other just to be the herd queen. That’s exactly what IFAJ members saw last week during a farm tour to the grape and fruit area of Switzerland – also home to the fierce fighting breed of cattle called Eringers.
Actually, the cows are rather docile until they’re herded into a ring to perform for cheering crowds, says cattleman Jacques Pralong. He owns about 100 of the dual purpose (milk and meat) black cows and regularly enters them in fighting cow shows across the southern part of the country. “They’re an aggressive breed and naturally like to fight,” he says.
Generally, about 40 cows are entered into an official fight. Much like a championship sporting event, there are playoffs where cows are penned into groups of 10. The top four from each group are then pitted against each other until six have fought their way to the top spots and become winners. Local residents and die-hard fans pay 13 franks ($10) to watch the match, 15 franks ($12) for the final championship fight. As many as 3,000-4,000 spectators show up for one of the events, usually held in the spring and fall. It’s even broadcast on television. “I make more money with the fighting than I ever would with the meat or milk,” Pralong says.
In a normal herd setting the cows quickly determine their pecking order and select their own queen. From then on, no more fights. “In fact, with humans they’re very much like pets,” Pralong explains. “It’s like having a dog. It can be somewhat mean, but not with his owner.” So what do the animal activists think? Pralong says they don’t care since the breed is naturally aggressive. “They worry more about us letting them walk on frozen ground where they could slip and hurt themselves,” he adds.
AgWired reports on IFAJ Congress 2005 are sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred.
If I hadn’t been attending the IFAJ Congress last week I would have been at the 
For this week’s ZimmCast I interviewed Claudia Wirz, 
I thought it was interesting to hear Claudia’s perspective and as you can hear her say in the interview she has some strong feelings when it comes to animals. She said in her presentation that she doesn’t see why farmers don’t support legislation here in Switzerland to further restrict pet owners and that she thinks that’s a mistake on their part. I guess that’s because she thinks that animal rights activists will be unhappy with farmers then. However, I don’t think she really understands that farmers don’t want increased animal rights legislation since it will ultimately have an impact on how they can conduct their business.
I’ve been trying to get Cindy to start writing on AgWired but she has found other ways to help out with content. However, on this IFAJ Congress trip she decided to at least write one article for me to post for her. In the picture you can see her in the little village where we had lunch yesterday. I’ll have more on that.
Next up on today’s program was one of the organizer’s of the IFAJ Congress, Marcus Rediger. Marcus had lots of interesting information. He spoke on “The Communication of the Farmers With Society.” One of the very cool things his organization (
First up on the program on the final day of the IFAJ was Ruedi Hagmann, 
The final day of the 
One of the highlights of an IFAJ Congress is the awards ceremony for the annual photo contest and Star Prize (writing contest). You can view the powerpoint presentation of the awards from this link: 
The photo contest has got to be a difficult one to judge. Kudos to the panel of judges. This year’s first place winner is Adries Gouws of South Africa. You can see the entries in the contest by viewing the powerpoint presentation.
The Star Prize contest for writing this year was won by Gunilla Ander of Sweden.
As you no doubt know, Cindy and I are in Switzerland. Since we’ve been here we’ve only been able to see some CNN coverage of the hurricane aftermath in the south. When I saw the damage to the