Leon
15-07-2003, 01:23
ZURICH (Reuters) - Lovers of Swiss cheese can now lease their own cow on an Alpine pasture to provide the personal touch that store-bought products just can't offer.
"We have around 25 interested parties," primarily city slickers from the Zurich area, said Helga Wyler, who runs a 50-head farm with her husband Paul in the Brienz area of the Bernese Oberland.
Attracted by an offer on the Internet (www.kuhleasing.ch), customers pay a fee of 380 Swiss francs per summer plus 40 Swiss cents for each litre of milk their beast produces.
Farmhands do the rest, but customers still have to work at least one day in the meadow to earn their cheese in the autumn. Each cow supplies enough milk to make 70 to 120 kg (155 to 265 pounds) of cheese.
Swiss farmers often rent cows to restaurants with a yen for customised cheese, but private leasing clients are rare.
"We have around 25 interested parties," primarily city slickers from the Zurich area, said Helga Wyler, who runs a 50-head farm with her husband Paul in the Brienz area of the Bernese Oberland.
Attracted by an offer on the Internet (www.kuhleasing.ch), customers pay a fee of 380 Swiss francs per summer plus 40 Swiss cents for each litre of milk their beast produces.
Farmhands do the rest, but customers still have to work at least one day in the meadow to earn their cheese in the autumn. Each cow supplies enough milk to make 70 to 120 kg (155 to 265 pounds) of cheese.
Swiss farmers often rent cows to restaurants with a yen for customised cheese, but private leasing clients are rare.