Cows Made of Butter?

Have you ever seen a yellow cow?  Well, of course it would be yellow, especially if it was made out of butter!  Every year, at the Iowa State Fair, there is a cow made out of butter. In fact, this year is the 100th year anniversary of the "Butter Cow."



So far, there have been five butter sculptors.  The most famous was Norma Duffy Lyon, who was affectionately referred to as the "Butter Cow Lady."  She created the Butter Cow each and every year for 46 years!  This year, and for the past five years, the sculptor has been Sarah Pratt.


How do you make a Butter Cow anyways?  Well, for starters, butter needs to be kept cold, or it will melt and lose its shape.  Because of this, the sculpture has to be created inside of a giant cooler kept at 40F, which is a little warmer than the inside of a refrigerator.  To shape the cow, there is a frame made out of wood and metal.  Then, about 600 pounds of butter are added onto the frame and the sculptor creates his or her masterpiece.  When it is completed, it is about five and a half feet high and eight feet long.  How much butter is 600 pounds worth anyways?  Well, to give you an idea, this amount of butter could be used to butter 19,200 slices of toast.  You would need a lot of bread to use up that much butter! People don't really use the butter for toast, of for food for that matter.  It actually gets recycled year after year, and can be used for about 10 years worth of butter sculptures. This year's entire butter sculpture actually used 1,200 pounds of butter!  The sculptor, Sarah Pratt, worked on it for three whole weeks.


In more recent times, companion sculptures made out of butter have also been displayed at the fair.  Here are some examples from different years.  Every year, there is a different theme.  See if you can figure them out!

To find out more about the Iowa State Fair, the Butter Cow, and see a great slideshow, click here.