The father and brother are the main occupants of the cowboy, according to Aitor Zazpi: “We have about 50-60 heads, they are quite a lot, but very little compared to many of those in this activity.” Domestic production is not limited, but is far from the predominant industrial production in the environment: “Here we start and end the whole cycle: from the cow lowering the mug when it is cooked until it reaches the consumer, we are in the whole process,” he added.

The cows start coming out to the Pyrenees around April, when the grass appears, and they stay there until the snow arrives. As of August, as there is not enough grass, in June they help animals with homemade grass. Winter is usually hard in the Aurizberri area, so cows are introduced in that period. “In Navarre the image they sell us of the cows is that they are always out, but in reality we are very few farmers who really bring the cows out, most of them are not leaving the incubators.”

Updating the road to Amatxi

In the field of processing, Zazpe works mainly: pasteurize and pack milk in liter bottles, make fresh cheese and also yoghurt. Tests are currently being carried out to start producing butter: “We had to make a big investment in infrastructure to create a space for transformation, but my brother and I were clear that we were not willing to continue working as before.” And that is that, seeing that the sale of milk to the big plants was not going to cost them a decent life, they decided to start the process of transformation.

At the moment, some of the milk they produce is processed by themselves and some are sold to larger dairies. But little by little the intention is for more and more people to make use of them. In Navarre there are also smaller milk producers, and they are grateful for having had their support since the beginning: “Most have seen with good eyes that there are smaller projects of this kind, because it will be easier for everyone to join forces to change things.”