The Abondance cow is a dairy cow from Haute-Savoie. Medium-sized, it is very well adapted to walking and particularly agile in the mountains.
Its coat is “piebald mahogany red”.
It has “glasses” (brown spots around the eyes) that reduce glare and protect the eye from the sun’s rays.
The cradle of the breed is the Chablais; it was even called “Chablaisienne” and took its current name at the end of the 19th century, officially recognised in 1891 at the chapel in Abondance (Haute-Savoie).
Particularly hardy, it is one of the Alpine herds that tends the mountain pastures at altitudes of over 2000 m.
It has given rise to the AOC Reblochon and Abondance cheeses.
Its milk is also used to make Beaufort AOC cheese, along with that of the Tarine breed of cow.
It is an inseparable part of the alpine landscape of Haute-Savoie.
You can also see Montbéliarde and Tarine cows on the mountain pastures.
The cows on this mountain pasture are not lactating: they are either still too young (heifers) or pregnant to give birth after the summer.
