WORDS AND PHOTOS BY VICE STAFF


To get things mooooving along, officials known as rabatteurs grab combatants by their collars and butt their heads together. Then this happens. The cows are Eringers, a breed known for its aggressive tendencies.

The cows’ workout routine consists of eating grass and pooping. Spectators trickle in throughout the day, with attendance reaching as high as 14,000. Unlike bullfights, injuries are rare in cow combat. Sometimes a horn pierces the skin of an opposing cow, but this usually results in only a superficial wound. The winning cow, Manhattan, with her loving breeder and his family. As prize money he gets a cowbell and a leather strap worth 500 Swiss francs, not to mention all the warrior milk he can drink.