The drought of recent months has prevented more than a thousand cows from going up the Llessui mountain (Sort) to spend the summer on time. Albert Baqueró, the cowboy who will spend four months watching over and caring for more than 1,500 animals, remarks that "the day they go up is important, but the day they come down is more important."
Having to advance the withdrawal of the animals, due to lack of food in the mountains, means a transfer for the farmers and a considerable economic cost. Over the weekend and this Monday, June 12, some 1,300 cows from all over Catalonia arrived at the Llessui mountain. Ranchers from Pallars, Cerdanya, Berguedà, Ripollès and Solsonès take their animals there because of the unique characteristics of their mountains.
Fewer and fewer farmers are taking their cows, calves or horses up the Llessui mountain on foot. Baqueró estimates that 5% of the cows make the transhumance on foot and the rest use trucks to make the transfer. Those who take them on foot, some by the mountains and others by the road, are from the neighboring towns and only care for one or two days.
Baqueró is one of the ranchers who still move the cows on foot in search of the best pastures to feed their animals. For this young farmer it is much more than a job, it is "a cultural heritage and a tradition".
These days, the LV-5223 road that leads from Sort to Llessui, has been a swarm of trucks loaded with animals. Near the town they were unloaded and the ranchers accompanied them up the mountain where they will spend the next four summer months. Everyone trusts that the weather in the months of July and August will be with them to make the grass grow and that the animals can be on the mountain until the beginning of October.
These days, the LV-5223 road that leads from Sort to Llessui, has been a swarm of trucks loaded with animals. Near the town they were unloaded and the ranchers accompanied them up the mountain where they will spend the next four summer months. Everyone trusts that the weather in the months of July and August will be with them to make the grass grow and that the animals can be on the mountain until the beginning of October.
