Hi,Great to find a site with so much interesting stuff and all in english. I only wish I had been able to use this site when we shifted here in 98. Well anyway with trial and lots of errors I`m still here and I guess integrated,I hope some of the experiences I`ve had living in Switzerland can be used to help out newcomers.I have 5 children( 2 Stepchildren, 2 of my own,and a foster niece) Been married 21 years to a bundnerbauer. Before we shifted here we lived in my home country New Zealand.Every summer we go on the Alp (in Engadine) where I`m responsible for the milk cows( around 50 ). My husband is responsible for the dry stock (around 350). In winter I run a kids club for the Reka( Schweizer Riesekasse).O.K that`ll do for my first post. See you later

Hey, welcome aboard. Have you introduced the Swissies to rotary milk sheds yet?

wow 50 cows!! that must be more work than having children around !! haha
welcome to the club and, well since your not new to the country, I can't welcome you here. You've been here longer than me!
hope some of the info you find to be useful and useless. just know the difference

Thanks for the welcome bubbles, and no I recieve only blank stares when I start on about any improvements to their system and then they wake up and ask me where my husband is!!On the plus side I do Know all the names of all the cows which our romanish farmers send up to the alp, and that makes them HAPPY!!!

Hi P.C. Thanks for the welcome .Yea 50 cows almost killed me the first summer but now it`s a breeze!! At home in N.Z. I am almost ashamed to say how many cows I`m milking as to make a decent income from milk cows in N.Z. you need at least 250 ( depending of course on mortgage etc.)But as I pointed out I do know all their names and characters.Small point P.C. kids and cows have a lot in common....see you later

I'm originally from a sheep farm near Invercargill. There's not many dairy farms in Switzerland like this...
http://www.realestate.co.nz/424244?order_by=2
It's a sign of the times over there though - economies of scale etc.

Sam

Hi Sam, interesting enough(to me anyway) last weekend I visited a couple of farmers(cow cockies) in Thurgau. They live next door to each other and are about to embark on a new project, namely combining their stock, sharing the work, milking,breeding, fattening etc. and splitting the profits as alone they are just not making ends meet,I could go on and on, on this subject, but for me the scary thing is how insiduiously the alp and mountain farming community are being undermined by the Bund. Looking at the village where I live that in the last 5 years is turning into a ghost village, 2 builders bankrupt, ALL the resturants closed, post in May closed for good... is the little picture part of the big picture?? Reminds me of the muldoon cuts in N.Z. in the 80,s.
kap

Hi Sam, interesting enough(to me anyway) last weekend I visited a couple of farmers(cow cockies) in Thurgau. They live next door to each other and are about to embark on a new project, namely combining their stock, sharing the work, milking,breeding, fattening etc. and splitting the profits as alone they are just not making ends meet,I could go on and on, on this subject, but for me the scary thing is how insiduiously the alp and mountain farming community are being undermined by the Bund. Looking at the village where I live that in the last 5 years is turning into a ghost village, 2 builders bankrupt, ALL the resturants closed, post in May closed for good... is the little picture part of the big picture?? Reminds me of the muldoon cuts in N.Z. in the 80,s.
kap

I do lots of hiking in the summer. Currently doing the Alpine trail from Sargans to Montreaux, but that's another story. Anyway... it seems that every farm I pass has brand new tractors and cow barns, even though there only appears to be a dozen cows wandering around. Maybe it's all government subsidised... dunno.

Another different observation... my brother is still a (sporadic) sheep farmer back in NZ. He gets about $2 (CHF 1.65?) a kilo for lamb at the works. I've seen NZ lamb for sale here for CHF 64 per kilo. hmmm....

A lot of small farmers in NZ have come to realise that they can't all afford to have a tractor AND a mower AND a bailer AND a header AND a centipede AND ... and so they have started pooling resources. Farmer A might use farmer B's mower, and farmer B might use farmer A's bailer, and farmer C's truck with labour from farmer D, etc. They all help each other out. Common sense really...

Hello Kiwi, nice to meet you in English forum

More Kiwis coming out of the woodwork! Maybe we ARE everywhere after all..