What is "ranz des vaches"

Ranz des vaches \Ranz" des` vaches"\ (r[aum]Ns" d[asl]` v[.a]sh"). [F., the ranks or rows of cows, the name being given from the fact that the cattle, when answering the musical call of their keeper, move towards him in a row, preceded by those wearing bells.] The name for numerous simple, but very irregular, melodies of the Swiss mountaineers, blown on a long tube called the Alpine horn, and sometimes sung.

n. (context music English) Any of numerous traditional Swiss melody played on the alpenhorn, originally to call cows in from the mountains. (from 18th c.)

A Ranz des Vaches or Kuhreihen is a simple melody traditionally played on the horn by the Swiss Alpine herdsmen as they drove their cattle to or from the pasture. The Kuhreihen was linked to the Swiss nostalgia and Homesickness (also known as mal du Suisse "Swiss illness" or Schweizerheimweh "Swiss homesickness").