Voluntary agricultural programmes for animal welfare

The Federal Office for Agriculture uses direct ­payments to remunerate farmers for services
of ­public and common interest. This includes produc­tion system contributions that are linked
to particularly animal-friendly husbandry.(1)

Regular exercise outdoors – RAUS programme

• At least 26 days per month spent in pasture (May to October)
• At least 13 days per month in pasture or outside (winter)
• Alternatively: free-stall access for the whole year
• Time spent outside must be documented in a journal(2)

Particularly animal-friendly housing in stables – BTS programme

• Group husbandry
• Continuous access to lying area and non-littered area
• Daylight of at least 15 lux intensity (street lighting corresponds to approx. 10 lux)(3)
• Compacted ground for eating and drinking area

Swiss milk production figures (4, 5)

• 575,000 dairy cows across Switzerland
• 7,010 litres of milk are produced by an average Swiss dairy each year
• 10 months a year – the average a dairy cow produces milk
• 3.4 billion kilogrammes of milk is the total supplied by Swiss farmers each year
• 21,000 milk producers across Switzerland
• 25 dairy cows per Swiss farm on average
• 48 % of all dairy cows live in free stalls
• 84 % of all dairy cows are in the RAUS (regular exercise outdoors) programme
• 800,000 hectares of grazing land (pastures, meadows) across Switzerland
• 100 kilogrammes of grass are eaten by cows each summer day
•  kilogrammes of hay are eaten by cows each winter day
• 50 – 100 litres of water: the amount a cow drinks each day
• 2 milk samples a month are submitted for official, extensive quality checking by each milk producer
• 350,000 cells per millilitre is the Swiss cell count limit  (see article "what makes Swiss milk so special")

Further information

• Article "What makes Swiss milk so special"
  

Sources
1) www.blw.admin.ch/blw/de/home/instrumente/direktzahlungen.html
2) www.kontrolldienstkut.ch/fileadmin/kut/programme/RAUS/A_Rinder_RAUS-spezifische_Anforderung_an_Stallbereich_und_Auslauf_Version_2017.pdf
3) www.naturallighting.wordpress.com/links/tageslicht-groessen-und-einheiten/
4) LID Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst, Alles über die Schweizer Milch, Ausgabe Juli 2018
5) www.swissmilk.ch