Cow Bells

The cows in the Wood's Dairy Barn

Dairy cows were the first animals on Ferme Fleur de Lys.  In Switzerland the cows are all adorned with bells.  These bells originally allowed the herdsmen to listen for the cows and collect them off the mountains for milking.  It has now become more of a cultural habit than a practical one as even in the smallest of pastures the cows are all wearing bells.  It is also typical to see smaller animals such as goats and sheep with bells.

The new farmers on the Ferme Fleur de Lys also used bells.  We have an assortment that made their way over from Switzerland.  The farmers quickly discovered that the terrain was much too rough for such adornments.  The cows would get the bells caught up in branches and the farmers found themselves constantly looking for the gorgeous bells in the undergrowth.  These bells can be quite massive and are decorated very beautifully.  

The bells were given to my husband and I as a gift to celebrate our commitment to the  ranch.  We moved permanently to the ranch when our oldest son was three months old in 1993.  We now use their glorious rings at New Years; ringing out the old and bringing in the new.  

A picture taken during our family's trip to Switzerland in 2003.  We were in the mountains below Verbier.

New Years, 2000.