In its issue of June 9, 2025, “Der Bund” reported on a cow signal expert who uses the signals emitted by cows for their welfare. The following reader’s letter was printed.
“It is certainly gratifying that people like the cow signal expert described in the report are concerned about animal welfare. But even she can’t do anything about the fact that practically all cows are bred to become actual production machines that have to produce several times the natural amount of milk every day. This requires an annual pregnancy and birth, which unfortunately ends anything but happily for the unfortunate cow: Immediately after this birth, the woman giving birth and her child are separated forever – what could be worse for a mother? But that’s not all: the unnaturally huge amount of milk leads to exhaustion after just a few years and thus to a trip to the slaughterhouse. We could put an end to this suffering overnight if we finally gave up animal products, which we know we don’t need to survive. We would have the choice, but unfortunately the animals would not.