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Dairy Farmer Salutes Cow With Sculpture
Dennis Rand, a dairy farmer from Melrose, Wis., recently bought a cow for $1,100 that can't moo and can't milk a drop. And he's delighted with her.
Rand's cow is a fiberglass tribute to Inga, a cow to whom he owes much of his dairying success. "Inga was our first registered Holstein. She 'produced 167,215 lbs. of
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Dairy Farmer Salutes Cow With Sculpture AG WORLD Ag World 4-5-20 Dennis Rand, a dairy farmer from Melrose, Wis., recently bought a cow for $1,100 that can't moo and can't milk a drop. And he's delighted with her.
Rand's cow is a fiberglass tribute to Inga, a cow to whom he owes much of his dairying success. "Inga was our first registered Holstein. She 'produced 167,215 lbs. of milk and 7,420 lbs. of fat in her lifetime. Although she died in 1972, 79 of our 110, cows can still be traced one way or another to her," Rand told FARM SHOW. "Some of Inga's offspring, and semen from her male offspring, have been sold throughout the world. One granddaughter was sold to a breeder in Japan for $15,000. So, you can understand why we wanted to do something to perpetuate her memory," says Rand.
"We pondered for a long time how to memorialize Inga. We didn't want her to leave our farm. So, when she died, we just dumped a load of sand on her until spring because we couldn't dig a grave in January. This preserved her almost perfectly," Rand explains. "We buried her the following spring on a bluff overlooking the entire farm so she could watrh the other rows."
Earlier this year, Rand learned that Creative Displays, of Sparta, Wis., could make a nearly life-sized replica of Inga. They painted the sculpture exactly like Inga, based on pictures from when she was still alive. The sculpture cost $1,100.
The fiberglass memorial stands adjacent to the barn on a concrete base. A neighbor, Robert Zeman, is preparing to landscape around the base with white rock, redwood chips and flowers.
He still has nothing but praise for Inga. "If it weren't for her, there's no telling where we'd be now. That cow was really something, I'll tell you."
Creative Displays, who sculpted Inga, uses reinforced fiberglass to make standard life-size replicas of cattle, hogs and horses, and will custom make unusual figures. "We've sculpted figures up to 100 ft. tall or larger," notes manager Darwin Jones.
For more details, including a free brochure showing three dozen fiberglass displays of animals, people and other subjects, contact: Creative Displays, Box 456, 431 Holstan St., Sparta, Wis. 54656 (ph 608 269 6771).
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