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The pasture in Cerdanya shines in this photograph captured for Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia, where we see the reflection of the cows in the water, a multiplier effect that leads us to the livestock tradition of this area of Catalonia, today , open to other economic activities, such as tourism.
But, the cattle tradition subsists and persists. It can be said that the current orientation of crops in the region of La Cerdanya is the result of changes in livestock. It is not strange that cows are the protagonists of this image, since cattle concentrate about 60% of the total.
From 1870 to 1970, the region changed the economic paradigm. It went from being rural to developing the service sector. It was the beginning of tourism and urban change. Hiking, skiing and winter sports arrived, when the mountains became a space for leisure.
And, in the midst of all this development, livestock farming has withstood the pressure of so-called progress, still offering us images as bucolic as this one of cows grazing by the water.
It has been verified that already around the years 4000 and 3500 a. C., the inhabitants of the region began to be incipient farmers and ranchers. They occupied caves, shelters, and open-air villages.
