Every summer, farmers in Switzerland send their herds of cows to high alpine meadows. There they graze until fall, and then they are taken back to their farms. This process is not always easy, however, because some of the highlands are difficult to reach by car and, in addition, many of the cows are unable to walk on their own. For this purpose, farmers order a helicopter.

The helicopter transports the cows on a safe rope structure to the place of gathering. The healthy cows descend the mountain slope and are then loaded into the vehicles. This year, the helicopter transported 10 cows out of a thousand, and the rest made it on their own.
The flight doesn’t hurt the cows and they feel fine afterward.
After all the cows were safely delivered, they were taken to the village of Urnerboden, where they will continue to be cared for.

Farmer Jonas Arnold said: “One reason for the helicopter transport is that you can’t reach some pastures by car, and the other is that some cows are injured, so they don’t have to walk all the way down.”

He added: “I didn’t ask a cow how it feels after such a flight as it couldn’t answer, but it’s only a short distance and it has to keep going. “It was only a short calm flight. I didn’t notice any difference between the ones that flew and the ones that walked normally.”