Swiss vote on bid to preserve cow horns

Switzerland was voting yesterday on an eclectic range of measures including a proposed constitutional amendment to preserve cow horns spearheaded by a livestock farmer who was inspired by talking to his herd. Also on the ballot, which is part of Switzerland's direct democracy system, are controversial legal revisions that define the ways insurance companies are allowed to spy on suspected welfare cheats as well as a rightwing proposal that would give Swiss judges supremacy over world courts.

But much of the public attention has been centred on farmer Armin Capaul, who forced a national vote on safeguarding cow horns following an upstart campaign that began with few resources and no political support. The proposal does not call for a ban on dehorning. Instead, it seeks a constitutional amendment that would create incentives for farmers to let horns grow.

Capaul has maintained that despite attention heaped on him after he defied the odds and secured the more than 100,000 signatures needed to force a national vote, he is not the story.