Another example of what we see all the time here. A few animals in a big field of lush grass. I don’t know what makes cows happy but I am confident that these cows are not suffering like the ones in huge agribusiness operations. I want milk from these cows. These might be outliers even here, I don’t really know.
We see cows in fields all over the Bregenzerwald (Bregenz [city] forest) when we go to our music festival in Austria. They are **not** for show. Their milk is sold fresh, but mostly turned into yogurt, butter, and cheese. Restaurants often tell you which farm their yogurt and butter come from!!
Actually, on rethinking my post, I ought to say that despite the romantic view of agriculture (and food in general) in Europe, as opposed to the United States, all is not well with European agriculture. The Dutch can produce milk so cheaply that they are driving small producers out of business all over Europe. I have heard/read complaints about this during our travels. Also, even in foodie France things are not well. Boulangeries are closing all over France, as people buy their bread (mass produced far away and shipped) in grocery stores. And oversupply of wine (and olive oil, I think) are another big issue. Just like in the US there are foodies looking for farm-to-table locally produced organic food, but on a day to day basis in ordinary homes Europe may not be much better than we are.