The German Animal Welfare Society wants the bells to be replaced with GPS  Photo: Alamy

Courts in both Switzerland and Germany have ordered farmers to remove the bells from their herds at night to prevent them keeping the neighbours awake.

Nicole Brühl, president of the German Animal Welfare Society, told Welt newspaper the group did not believe animals should suffer for tradition.

“We are for a ban on cow bells when they demonstrably harm the animals. We completely reject the idea an animal should suffer something so unreasonable for tradition alone.”

The demand has been met with fury from the farmers and the local tourism authorities.

“This is complete nonsense,” Franz Hage, chairman of the local Alpine Economic Assoication, said. “It’s the tradition in Allgäu.”

Cattle wearing the Bavarian cowbells in Allgäu  Photo: Alamy

“Many hikers in Allgäu would miss something without the bells,” Simone Zehnpfennig, a spokesman for the local tourist board, said

The row in Germany follows similar attempts to get the cowbells banned by animal rights groups across the border in Switzerland.

Swiss activists measured the volume of the bells last year and found they emit 100 to 113 decibels – the same as a chainsaw.

So far the Swiss authorities have rejected calls for a ban, and the activists do not look likely to do any better in fiercely conservative Bavaria.

“I don’t believe the bells are an impediment for the cows, either for their weight or their volume,” Helmut Brunner, the Bavarian state agriculture minister, told Welt.