Why do Swiss cows wear bells?
To find them. Cowbells originally helped owners locate lost cows and tell, by the sound, which cow belonged to which farmer, swissinfo.ch reports. A study at ETH Zurich found heavy bells are loud, 100 to 113 decibels, and that cows wearing them ate for shorter periods and chewed less.
Ep. 41 · Ding or Clonk? · 51 seconds. Watch
The real rule
Why the Swiss laugh, and what it means if you're new here.
The cowbell began as a tool: behind a hill or in the fog, a farmer could hear where a cow was, and whose it was. The bells can be heavy and loud, and an ETH Zurich study found they bother the cows. As a newcomer on a hiking trail, enjoy the sound, from a distance, like Ueli.
Blüemli's verdict: Ding. To find them. Bells helped farmers find lost cows, and tell whose cow was whose.
Be like Ueli. Love the bells. From a distance.
Learn more: Swiss Mythos
The rule, explained
In a 2020 story about a cowbell maker, swissinfo.ch summed up the origin: cowbells originally helped owners locate lost cows, and work out which cow belonged to which farmer, based on their sound. Behind a hill or in fog, the bell was how a farmer found his herd. Swissinfo.ch also reported on a PhD study at ETH Zurich with more than 100 cows on 25 farms. The cows wore 5.5-kilogram bells, and the loudness of the bells was 100 to 113 decibels. With the heavy bells, the cows ate for shorter periods and chewed less. So the bell has a reason, and the cow has an opinion.
Sources: swissinfo.ch, Is this man the last Swiss cowbell maker?, 10 September 2020; swissinfo.ch, Study shows cows bothered by bells
Questions people ask
Do cowbells bother cows?
An ETH Zurich study found cows with 5.5-kilogram bells ate for shorter periods and chewed less (swissinfo.ch).
How loud is a Swiss cowbell?
The bells in the ETH Zurich study measured 100 to 113 decibels (swissinfo.ch).
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