Holy cow - giant Friesian may be tallest in UK (OF COURSE there are pictures :-))

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | May 12, 2008 | Richard Savill

[Stoat]

Holy cow - giant Friesian may be tallest in UK

By Richard Savill

Last Updated: 2:08PM BST 12/05/2008

 

Weighing 1.25 tons, and towering 6ft 6in at the shoulder, Chilli, dwarfs most horses, is the same height as a small elephant, and could provide enough steaks to feed an army.

BNPS

The owners of Chilli, a black and white Friesian steer, believe he may be the tallest bovine in Britain.

Naomi Clarke, care manager of the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, Somerset, who raised the bullock, said: “As he was growing up we began noticing that he was bigger than our other cattle.

”He now stands at 6ft 6ins from the floor to the top of his shoulder and he is massive when he holds his head up.”

Despite his size, Miss Clarke described him as being “very friendly and gentle.”

The steer grazes on grass during the day and enjoys the occasional swede as a treat. A farmer abandoned him and his twin sister Jubilee on the sanctuary's doorstep in September 1999, when he was six days old. The sanctuary named him Chilli because it already had a cow called Chutney.

He would normally have been on a farm and slaughtered for meat at an early age. But because he has been in a sanctuary he has lived to the age of nine.

Miss Clarke said: “As the years passed we noticed he was getting rather tall.

”Although he weighs over a ton he is quite lean and not as fat as some of his companions. We don't know what has made him so tall. He doesn't eat that much and Jubilee is 6ft in comparison. His feet and head are in proportion; he is just very large.”

Balancing him on a set of scales would need 16 St Bernard dogs; 12 newborn elephants; five adult gorillas; or 1.5 Smart cars. He could provide 5,510 8 oz steaks.

The sanctuary has referred Chilli's details to Guinness World Records in the hope that it might claim a record. Guinness World Records said it was researching the application.

As of November last year, the record for the tallest oxen is Fiorino, an Italian chianina ox who measured 6 ft 8 in to the withers.

The largest cow on record was an American Holstein-Durham cross named Mount Katahdin, which stood at 6 ft 2 in and had a girth measuring 13 ft. The cow died in a barn fire in 1923.

[Lady Jag]

Have you seen my Dog?

[Soaring Feather]

Yes, he is with my chick.

[Lady Jag]

That's my chick with big knockers!

[potlatch]

[That’s my chick with big knockers!]

Lol, now you need sheep with a braaaaaa
But I deleted the one I made!!
Hi LJ!!

[Lady Jag]

You know everytime the picture of a bra is posted you have to give a contribution to Free Republic.

[potlatch]

[You know every time the picture of a bra is posted you have to give a contribution to Free Republic. ]

Even in between times?? Lol.
I must have known that subliminally, because I deleted my braaa sheep! It was a ‘wonder’!

[phil1750]

Several years ago, I saw a Beefalo bull. It was a cross between a buffalo and a Beefmaster. Weighed just over 2600 lbs. Must have been close to 10 feet long, but wasn’t nearly as tall as this bull.

[Slings and Arrows]

I wonder how many White Castle burgers you could make out of that thing?

[metmom]

Bad photo shopping. There’s no shadow for the cow’s left front foreleg in the first picture, the one that came with the article.

[AFPhys]

Possibly, clone, nowadays... and who knows after that... with gene splicing capabilities ever advancing.

[bert]

One can wonder if the term swede is a racial slur against Swedes who are rutabaga eaters?

[Daffynition]

Fooling with Mother Nature is not a good thing.

[ApplegateRanch]

Quite a bit, until the cow owners twig that he is a steer.

Maybe they could hire some nigerians to run a mail-order frozen semen venture.

[Ignatz]

I'm not so easily fooled! Somebody should tell him!

Soylent Swede is CATTLE!