Tag: Cows

Monday Portrait: a Vosgienne

In my head, I’m still on holiday. In my head, I’m processing all the new sights and experiences of the last few weeks. Among those sights was the Vosgienne. A smallish cow, black and white with a pronounced white stripe along its backbone, it has short delicate horns. And you’ll find it – of course – in the Vosges mountains. Locals value its creamy milk in cheese production, particularly of bold-flavoured Munster cheese.

My header image is of one we saw on our trip to the Transhumance celebrations. I bet she was glad to get rid of that weighty cowbell. She’d have had one on her mountain pastures too, but it would have looked more like this one here:

Monday portrait of a young cow

This shot was taken in the Corrèze, a rural part of France where the cow is – er – queen. The header photos shows that within living memory, oxen were still used as tractors. This area still has the feel of somewhere that time has forgotten. Happy souvenirs of a wonderful holiday of walking in gentle countryside with the ancient town of Corrèze as our backdrop.

I dedicate this post to Becky, for her Walking Squares, and to Brian of Bushboy’s World, who’s rather fond of cows.