Transfarming Switzerland
by Sabina Diethelm, Thomas Machowicz and Shelley Sunjka
Photography by Sabina Diethelm
Produced on assignment for We Animals Media
With its picturesque landscapes of mountains, alpine pastures and traditional family farms, Switzerland has long been admired for its rural beauty.
Switzerland Tourism advertises scenes of cows grazing on lush meadows, reinforcing the country’s reputation as a land of milk, chocolate and cheese. But behind these idyllic images lies a different reality; one of exploitation and suffering of millions of animals kept for the production of meat and dairy products.
But what happens when the farmers themselves can no longer stand this reality, no longer want to exploit and kill animals and are searching for a way out?
In April 2022, filmmakers and photographers Thomas Machowicz and Sabina Diethelm visited Switzerland on assignment for We Animals Media in order to photograph and create a documentary film about the work of one extraordinary woman who has made it her life's mission to reimagine traditional farming practices.
Her name is Sarah Heiligtag and she helps farmers transition from livestock farming to plant-based, vegan farming. She assists them in building sanctuaries where animals are no longer treated as commodities but as sentient beings with the right to live free from harm.
“My ‘why’ started when I was a child. I love animals and I always tried to help them in one way or another.”
- Sarah Heiligtag
As the founder of her own vegan farm and sanctuary “Hof Narr” and of the concept she termed “transfarmation”, Sarah recognized early on the environmental and ethical consequences of raising animals for food. Instead of just opposing traditional farming practices outright, she works with farmers who can no longer reconcile their actions with their values.
She advocates for a model of farming that benefits the entire ecosystem, but she doesn’t preach her way to farmers, she works with those who ask for help.
It all started when in 2013, Sarah and her husband leased a farm in Hinteregg near Zurich and transformed it into a vegan sanctuary. They called it “Lebenshof” - German for “Farm of Life.” They have provided a peaceful home to over 200 rescued animals, ranging from pigs and goats to horses and donkeys, to chicken and ducks, and they produce vegetables.
Her peaceful Lebenshof caught the attention of a farmer disillusioned with the cycle of animal exploitation. No longer willing to exploit animals, he sought her help to change his farm, too. This successful transformation sparked media attention and inspired more farmers to follow suit.
From there, it snowballed and by 2023, Sarah had helped more than 100 farms across Switzerland transition from animal-based farming to sustainable, vegan farming, turning farms into sanctuaries, with many others currently undergoing the same process.
Accompanied by Sarah, Thomas and Sabina traveled across the country to visit some of these farms; some have already made a successful transition, others are still in the early stages.
“I just realized that it was getting more and more difficult for me. Everytime I knew somebody would have to leave, a bull or a cow, I would not be able to sleep for a week and have this weight on my chest.”
- Selina Blaser
Our journey takes us to the Emmental Valley of Bern, Switzerland. Here, a traditional beef farm has become a vegan enterprise under the guidance of Sarah Heiligtag.
As a young couple, Selina and Adrian Blaser took over Adrian’s parents’ beef farm in 2020 and were facing a moral quandary from the outset. Selina in particular felt deeply troubled by the treatment of animals as commodities and could not reconcile with the practice of slaughtering calves once they reached so-called market size.
Her empathy was especially drawn to an older cow who had birthed 13 calves, and was due to be slaughtered soon. Selina’s desperate search for alternatives led her to Sarah Heiligtag and her transfarmation work.
Sarah stresses that the “transfarmation" process is more than a simple technical shift, it’s a deeply emotional journey for the people involved. Her work addresses not only the environmental and ethical implications of animal agriculture, but also the human struggles inherent in breaking away from tradition.
Most farmers take over the family business from their parents; a business which has been passed down from generation to generation, and it is not easy for them to break with family traditions and practices. This was the case for Selina and Adrian, too.
However, in spite of all initial doubts and skepticism, particularly from Adrian’s family, in 2021, the Blasers converted their farm into a vegan sanctuary with Sarah’s assistance. This change meant that all the cows, once raised solely for consumption, are now allowed to live out their natural lives in health and peace. The farm now grows chickpeas in collaboration with a local Swiss hummus producer and also grows a variety of other vegetables.
Moreover, they’ve initiated an adoption program to support the animals living at the sanctuary through sponsorships. This sanctuary has become a haven not just for cows but for an array of animals including goats, chickens, rabbits, cats, and a dog, all coexisting in an environment built on respect and care.
“Since my grandfather did it, it was the way it is now and so that’s what I want to change now. For me, it’s simply not an option to continue like this because there are much better ways of keeping an animal.”
- Corinne Hadorn
While Selina and Adrian are a wonderful example of what can be achieved when a farmer has the support to make the ethical changes they want to, not every transfarmation goes so smoothly. Many farmers are confronted with old patterns of thinking that span generations and find it difficult to fight against what has always been considered “normal”.
Corinne Hadorn’s small operation in Bleienbach, in Bern is one such example. Unlike a typical dairy farm, Corinne’s farm is what is known as an “Ausmelk” farm, a German term meaning “milk out.”
Cows who cannot get pregnant or who can no longer meet dairy industry standards of producing enough milk are kept on her farm for approximately one more year of milking before finally being slaughtered.
Sarah describes this as a particularly cruel way of further exploiting animals that are already weak and often in poor health.
Tethered by the neck in a dark, cramped barn, the cows here have very little room to lie down or move at all. Strikingly thin and looking worn out and jaded, some of these cows are as young as two or three years old, their bodies exhausted by the demands of the dairy industry.
“The whole ‘life’, which I wouldn’t call life, before the killing is actually the worst.”
-Sarah Heiligtag
Corinne, who inherited the farm from her father, finds herself conflicted. Over time, Corinne has begun to feel uneasy about the way she was treating the animals in her care. She admits that she avoids learning the cows’ ages or how many calves they’ve had, just to distance herself from the emotional toll of the animals’ suffering. She goes as far as to say that she thinks the cows would be better off dead than in this place.
Searching for alternatives, she reached out to Sarah Heiligtag, hoping to turn her farm into a sanctuary. Yet, despite her desire for change, Corinne faces significant obstacles. Her family does not support her decision to move away from animal farming, and the weight of generations of tradition weighs heavily on her. Also, she doesn’t have the financial means to renovate and enlarge the old, dark barn.
Although Sarah’s organization offers financial assistance for farmers looking to transition, the emotional and social challenges can be just as significant as the economic ones. For Corinne, the lack of support from her family is a major source of doubt, making the path forward unclear. According to Sarah, this is not uncommon. Many farmers who approach her are caught in a similar struggle.
Much of the transfarmation process is, as Sarah describes it, "peace work" - helping farmers like Corinne navigate the emotional journey of leaving behind deeply ingrained practices in favor of more compassionate, sustainable farming.
The next farm we visit is a small veal farm, nestled between Lucerne and Bern, run by Marianne Amrein.
The farm has been in her family for generations and is another example of how hard it is for some farmers to make this transition. She inherited the farm from her father, continuing the traditional veal farm practices of separating the calves from their mothers at birth and bottle-feeding them along with other calves bought at auctions.
After growing up separated from their mothers, they are often weak, sick and treated with antibiotics. Then the calves are sent to slaughter at just six months old.
Seeking more compassionate alternatives, Marianne reached out to Sarah for help, leading to the rescue of a mother cow and her calf in a small act of kindness that hinted at the possibility of change.
Despite Marianne's initial interest in exploring more humane farming methods, she later decided to rent out her farm to a neighbor and move to the city to study social work. Her departure means that the farm is likely to continue as a veal operation under its new management.
“Once the farmers allow their feelings or their sadness to really be there and they decide to do a transfarmation there is a patch where it is really hard for them because they are still in the system and until they are out all these decisions have to be made; which animal to rescue, which not, and it’s quite a heavy way for a while.”
- Sarah Heiligtag
An inspiring example of change comes from Naturhof Waltwil, an egg farm located in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. As of 2022, the farm was home to 2,000 chickens, producing organic eggs that meet Switzerland’s highest standards. With organic eggs making up 25 percent of the Swiss market, Naturhof Waltwil was part of an industry that emphasized eco-friendly practices, however, Thomas Reinhard and his partner Fabienne Meier still began to question whether their methods were truly sustainable.
While industry standard requires them to have at least 2000 chickens in order to find wholesale buyers, they soon noticed that when they had only 200 chickens, the birds were far healthier and the soil was a lot healthier, too.
Keeping so many chickens in a confined space means more diseases, more antibiotics for the animals and also more stress, which in turn can lead to fights and even cannibalism among the animals.
Another sad reality of the egg industry is that all laying hens are culled after just one year due to reduced performance. As Fabienne and Thomas’s awareness grew and as they began to see the chickens as sentient beings deserving of better treatment, things became increasingly difficult to bear for them.
“They have secured our financial survival for a year and now in return they are slaughtered. Let’s say even if the way we keep them here was really great and perfect, it would still bother us that we have to slaughter the chickens every year.”
- Fabienne Meier
Feeling trapped by the strict demands of the industry, Thomas and Fabienne found themselves in search of a solution. It was only after seeing a report on Sarah Heiligtag’s work that they felt they had a way out. Encouraged by the story of another farm that had transitioned away from animal agriculture, they reached out to Sarah for guidance. Although she had primarily worked with dairy, beef, and pig farms, Sarah agreed to help Naturhof Waltwil to undergo its own transition.
Thomas and Fabienne planned to end egg production altogether, rehoming most of their chickens while keeping about 200 on the farm to live out their natural lives. Today, Naturhof Waltwil not only offers animal sponsorships but also educational programs aimed at raising awareness about the interconnectedness of humans, animals, and the environment. Through this transition, Thomas and Fabienne are reshaping their farm into a model of sustainability and empathy, proving that even within the deeply entrenched practices of the egg industry, change is possible.
“From the beginning, I told Beat I don’t want to work here because I would build a relationship with the animals and it would be difficult for me when the animals had to go to slaughter”
- Claudia Troxler
Lebenshof Aurelio, a farm situated in Büron, canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, underwent a profound transfarmation in 2020, transitioning from a traditional dairy and pig farm to a vegan farm and animal sanctuary.
Beat Troxler, a fourth-generation farmer, initially managed his inherited family farm according to longstanding practices prevalent among Swiss family farms, without questioning it too much.
The course of Beat’s life and the destiny of Lebenshof Aurelio shifted dramatically when he met his future wife, Claudia.
Claudia begged him to let her adopt one of the piglets, which she had grown particularly fond of as she passed the pigsty every day on her dog walks and Beat agreed.
A friendship developed between Beat and Claudia, and soon they fell in love and became a couple.
Through the time they spent together and intensive conversations, Beat gradually began to see that pigs and cows are sentient beings who do not deserve to be exploited.
If one piglet is worth saving, aren't they all?
Claudia knew from the very beginning that she wouldn’t be able to help him on the farm and participate in the exploitation of animals.
Claudia's compassionate nature left a deep impression on Beat and his whole way of thinking slowly began to change too. Interestingly enough, he says that he actually remembers thinking the same way as Claudia when he was child and then simply had to learn and accept “that it's just the way you do it and that's how a farm works”.
In a way, Claudia awakened something in him that had always been there.
Naming their sanctuary after the first calf they raised that wasn’t separated from his mother, Claudia and Beat redefined their farming practices to focus on the welfare of their animals.
The Troxlers rehomed 200 pigs and focused on providing a peaceful life for the remaining animals. Two pigs, seven alpacas, two pygmy goats, 55 cows, several chickens, and a rooster now lead a happy and peaceful life on Lebenshof Aurelio.
Today, Lebenshof Aurelio is not just a sanctuary but also an educational center. Claudia and Beat offer tours that enlighten the public about sustainable farming practices and animal welfare.
They have found a way to sustain their operations financially through animal sponsorships and the production of oat milk, using the pure spring water and organic oats available on their farm.
These inspiring stories of human courage and empathy demonstrate that agriculture can thrive without violence.
Sarah’s work not only shows us that a deep personal connection to animals and the land can redefine farming as an act of stewardship, but it also leads to practices that honor animal welfare, protect the environment, and educate the community about the value of life in all its forms.
To learn more about Sarah Heiligtag and the farmers she works with, watch the award winning film Transfarming Switzerland on the We Animal’s Media YouTube page, and read an interview with the filmmakers on the We Animals Media website.
