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Domestic livestock, such as farm animals and pets, are part of the cultural heritage of mankind. Animals have been used for food, services, non-food or religious purposes or just as a hobby for thousands of years. Man-made breeding has created livestock that are adapted for different purposes and functions. Today, thousand of breeds exist: adapted to the various conditions in human households. The discussion of animal welfare and the definition of standards for livestock keeping have to consider the different functions, ethical values and perceptions of people involved (Badura, 1999). The differences of culture, as well as private and common wealth between individuals, regions and countries, can be a reason for different standards for animal keeping. This discussion can become easier with an understanding of the functions of animals from a historical and ethical perspective. This can help to answer the question of how the animals should be kept.

In the 1990s, the Swiss organic dairy market experienced an enormous expansion with annual growth rates of 10–15%. In 2001, approximately 191,000 tonnes of organic milk were produced. This corresponds to 4.9% of the overall milk production in Switzerland (Hamm and Gronefeld, 2003). This market expansion was clearly driven by a growing demand, which in turn was closely connected to the marketing activities of the major retailers (Richter and Sanders, 2001). Today, however, the situation has changed. While in the past, the demand for organic milk was typically higher than supply, there is currently an oversupply with approximately 7 million kg of organically produced milk that cannot be sold as organic milk (Bio Suisse, 2003). A similar development is likely for the next years. Since the number of organic buyers will not increase anymore only by the fact that organic food is available in the shelves of retailers, it is necessary to develop more target group and product group specific marketing strategies in Switzerland based on an in-depth understanding of organic consumer attitudes and consumption patterns. Through this strategy, it might be possible to achieve a further growth of the currently saturated market. The aim of this paper is to present and compare consumption data and survey results from three different sources, in order to give a comprehensive overview of the socio-demographic profiles of organic consumers and, in particular, of consumption patterns and buying motives with respect to organic dairy products. Based on these data, recommendations for improved marketing measures for organic dairy products are derived.