According to a court ruling, cows can continue to wear bells on a pasture in an Upper Bavarian village. A lawsuit filed by neighbors against a farmer in Greiling for noise pollution was dismissed by the district court in Wolfratshausen, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.

However, the judgment is not yet final because the time limit for appeals has not yet expired. First, the "Münchner Merkur" had reported.

In order to be able to assess the dispute between the farmer and a married couple, the court had commissioned an expert with an opinion, among other things. This should clarify whether the volume of the cowbells is within the limit or whether all cows are no longer allowed to have bells, as requested by the plaintiffs.

In Holzkirchen, Bavaria, a similar dispute had occupied the courts through several instances for years. In 2020, a married couple and a farmer's wife agreed on a settlement before the Munich Higher Regional Court. A maximum of three cows are now allowed to wear bells there, with a maximum diameter of twelve centimeters and a tolerance of one centimetre. In addition, the animals are only allowed to graze in a certain part of the pasture.