Elmar Horrer was born in Laas in 1959. As a ten-year-old child, he spent the summer in the Laas Valley, tending 140 calves. During these years, he developed a love of solitude and silence, a passion that stayed with him throughout his life.

The interest in and connection with sheep only came later, when he came into contact with these animals thanks to relatives who owned herds. So he slowly built up his own herd, which now includes around 70 animals, and accompanies them across the Alpine chain to the summer pasture in the Ötztal.

Until 2014, the long march took place partly on glaciers, but even today, weather conditions can make the crossing very treacherous. In the high mountains, which reach up to 3,000 metres, the weather can suddenly change and the path that has been walked countless times becomes an insurmountable obstacle, especially when the snow freezes, and Elmar has often had to watch helplessly as accidents happen.

For years he has been the esteemed president of the Laas Sheep Breeders’ Association and although he has taken part in many international film and television shoots, he has remained a modest and calm person.

Karl Prieth, born in 1952 in Kortsch, comes from a farming family and was already tending sheep on the farm on the slopes of the Sonnenberg at the age of twelve. After his father’s death in 1988, he took over his parents’ farm on the Schlipf farm in Kortsch. At that time, the farm produced grain and fruit, so the young man no longer had time to look after the sheep, which he later sold.

It was not until 2002, when his son Bernhard took over the farm after military service, that Karl began breeding his beloved sheep again and soon became president of the Kortsch sheep breeding association, which today has 26 members and 400 sheep.

Every year he accompanies the herds to the summer pasture in the Ötztal and has many curious stories to tell. Once, in autumn, on the way back to the Vinschgau, the weather deteriorated rapidly and visibility was zero. He, at the head of the herd, made slower and more uncertain progress until an old sheep overtook him, changed direction and led him to the Bellavista hut. The sheep had a cowbell that allowed the other sheep to follow him even though they couldn’t see him.

Another curious episode related to sheep takes us to Aquileia. Years ago, Karl suffered from an inexplicable allergy until one day, while visiting the mosaics on the floor of the basilica, the guide pointed out that in the biblical story, animals are divided into clean and unclean. Sheep (mentioned no less than 96 times in the Bible) were among the clean animals because they only ate herbs. Since then, Karl has only eaten herbs, vegetables and mutton and his allergy has disappeared!