The famed cow bells that are part of the sight and sound public image of Switzerland, as well as a great annoyance for urban Swiss moving to rural villages, may be on the way out.
The bells, whose purpose is to help farmers locate wandering cattle in remote Alpine pastures, may be replaced by virtual fences and electrified collars, if Switzerland’s parliament passes a law legalizing the technology.
A bill sponsored by a parliament member who is also a farmer, has gained support across a number of parties. The proposed system would allow farmers to create GPS-based virtual fences. Physical fences are considered impractical because of steep topography and size.
According to Swiss news platform 20 Minuten, “the virtual border of the pasture can be set using the app. If the cow approaches the border, a warning tone sounds that becomes louder. If it continues, a slight electrical impulse follows. If it exceeds all three warning zones, the stimuli are deactivated and the owner is alerted via smartphone. Thanks to GPS, he can see where the escaped cow is at any time.”
Agroscope, a Swiss federal research agency, says that the electric impulse is 1/25 that of an electric fence and, it says, the cows are quick learners; after an average of eight electrical stimuli, “the cows learned to react correctly without any sustained stress response.”
Image: Matias Senger/Wikimedia Commons
When I was in the French Alps, I loved hearing the bells as the cows headed for the barn to be milked. I am sorry to hear technology is taking this away, too.