You may or not remember (why would you?) that one of my fun quarterly goals was to find and photograph all of the cow sculptures our local beautification council had put around town. I live in Wisconsin and there are some deep ties to the dairy industry in my town, so these are the seven types of dairy cows.
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| Red and white |
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| Milking shorthorn |
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| Jersey |
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Holstein
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Brown Swiss
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| Ayrshire |
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Guernsey - This is the only one that's on my regular walking route with Hannah.
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This is quite a lot of work for relatively little payoff, but now if you want to know what sort of excitement you might see if you ever come visit my town, you have a sneak peek.
Which is your favorite? I'm partial to the Holstein.
I like the necklaces on the two of them. I don't have a favourite, they are all very cute.
ReplyDeleteThey are decked out for Easter! A couple of them had shamrock wreaths for a while and most of them (all of them maybe?) had hats and/or scarves during December.
DeleteI agree with Nicole; I love the necklaces. I think Brown Swiss is my fav. Those eyes (for me it's always about the eyes, apparently).
ReplyDeleteThe eyes of the red and white and jersey hit me the hardest. I just have to remind myself that they're not real.
DeleteAre the cows always here? I rather like them!
ReplyDeleteYes! They're relatively new, but they are going to be permanent fixtures. I am considering retaking photos every few years to see how they age.
DeleteThe Holstein is what I picture when I think "cow" but I've never seen one that looks like that in real life. Just like I've never seen a yellow duck. I didn't make a special note of the necklaces until I read the comments- they are nice!
ReplyDeleteWhat Jenny said! But, seriously, I like them all. Cows are amazing.
DeleteHa! You never saw a Holstein when you lived in the Midwest? How is that possible? I'll try and take a photo of Holsteins the next time I see some.
DeleteIRL the Brown Swiss is my fave milking cow. They are so doelike and sweet-faced. I'm also partial to Red&Whites because their colouring is so beautifully red, almost strawberry, and their patterning can be so varied. But I'm such a cow fanatic that I'm crazy about all of them.
ReplyDeleteI think the Red and Whites are so pretty, but I just find the Guernsey coloring to be the most dog-like, so I always sort of gravitate towards them. I don't know. I like them all, too!
DeleteI came here to hear Nance's take (she is the cow expert in my head). And I gotta agree, the Brown Swiss has the sweetest eyes!
DeleteI love Nance's reputation as a cow lover!
DeleteI disagree that there is little payoff - IF you have a town cow sculpture collection, how can you not go out and see all of them? This is the first time in my life that I've thought about the different types of cows. I'm team Holstein, mostly because there used to be a black and white cat with a Holstein pattern in my parents' neighborhood that was very friendly.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I ever really thought about the types of cows until I moved to Wisconsin. It's hard to live your life and not hear about the dairy industry here.
DeleteCow kitty!! We used to have a friend who had a very chubby kitty with black splotches and we always called him cow kitty!
The Holstein is typically my favorite dairy cow, but I love the Ayrshire because of its adorable necklace!
ReplyDeleteHa! I wonder who does the decorating of the cows, actually. Each cow is associated with a business and/or nonprofit and I wonder if the employees do it.
DeleteI am a Brown Swiss fan! What a fun little love sightseeing tour of your town - I love things like this!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, if you came for a visit, taking you to the places with the cows would basically be showing you all of the town's highlights. You've seen it all now!
DeleteMy favourite is the Brown Swiss. I think it's the eyes on the statue one. Then I had to go and google some photos of real ones. I do like the muted colours of their coats too.
ReplyDeleteCows are really gorgeous. But they're so big. Honestly, cows and horses intimidate me with their sheer size.
DeleteMy favorite cows IRL are the lakenvelder dairy cows. We saw them on our honeymoon in the Netherlands, and they're so pretty and distinctive. Of the statues you have there, I think I like the Jersey cow the best. I think their milk is supposed to be easier to digest.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I immediately googled lakenvelder dairy cows! I've never seen a cow that looked like that, but they're gorgeous!!
DeleteI love them all! What a fun thing for your town. (Incidentally, my town has statues of fish everywhere, as flyfishing is a huge thing!) I love all the cows - I can’t pick a favorite! ❤️
ReplyDeleteFish statues! You should do a tour for us - I want to see them!
DeleteSo fun! The kids and I did Madison's Bucky hunt several years ago, and it was a delight~!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to go around and "collect" all the statues. I wish I had done it on a warmer day, though. LOL.
DeleteFavorite cow? The Holstein. But favorite location? The Brown Swiss. Any excuse for an ice cream cone!
ReplyDeleteRight? I feel like the brown Swiss and red and white have locational advantages in that you can get delicious treats there! (Also, I honestly could only find 6/7 cows and had to go into the local museum to ask where the 7th one was. It's sort of camoflaged!)
DeleteOh, I just love that there are all these cool sculptures all around your town! What a fun photo project. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a distinctive feature of our town and I am really loving them.
DeleteI can't pick just one... but this does make me think that I should document some of the Buckys (Buckies?) around town. Just not the super-scary one by the hospital with the exposed innards. Whoever thought THAT was a good idea should have thought twice...
ReplyDeleteAnd, I am hoping to get to see your cows in person soon. Promise.
I don't know if it is Buckys or Buckies and it's killing me to not have a definitive answer. The one by the hospital is TERRIBLE. So creepy.
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