Largest Cow
Just How Large Is The Largest Cow?
The largest cow currently living is approximately the height of a good sized draft horse, which is one big cow. If you want to see a truly gigantic cow, you'll need to travel to New Salem, North Dakota - Home of Salem Sue. This must be cow country, at least Holstein country, as the Holstein is the mascot of the local high school's sports teams.
Salem Sue is 38 feet high and weighs in at 6 tons. That would be a lot of beef except Salem Sue is made of reinforced fiberglass. Still, the folks in New Salem are correct when they lay claim to being the home of the World's Largest Cow. There are a few other roadside bovine attractions around but none can quite match Salem Sue. A distant second might be a cow in neighboring Montana that measures in the vicinity of 20 feet.
If it's a real flesh and blood cow you're interested in, the largest cow on record in the United States, a Holstein-Durham cross, stood 6' 2" at the shoulder. The cow, named Mount Katahdin, lived early in the 20th century. The Holstein is the largest of the dairy breeds and typically reaches a height of 58" at the shoulder, and weighs in the neighborhood of 1,500 pounds. An even larger animal, currently living in the United Kingdom, is a Friesian cow that measures a whopping 6'6" at the shoulder, taller than the huge Belgian Draft horse. In horse language, the cow, named Chilli, would be 19.2 hands high, compared to the Belgian's 17 hands, and nearly a foot taller than the familiar Clydesdale.
Your search for the world's largest cow might well end in Italy, home to the Chianina, the largest cow breed, which averages 63" and between 1800 and 2,200 pounds, with bulls reaching 69" in height, and weighing up to 3500 pounds. An oxen, the Chianina was used in the past as a draft animal, but is grown now strictly for beef. Unlike most members of the cow family, the Chianina cows, both sexes in fact, are know to be somewhat ill-tempered.
If your interests lie in seeing plenty of cows, not necessarily the largest ones, the world's largest dairy farm is the Al-Safi Farm in Saudi Arabia, home to over 29,000 head of cattle. The largest dairy farm in the United States is believed to be one in Oregon, which may rival the Saudi farm, in terms of the number of head of cattle.
Yet another roadside attraction. Wisconsin is famous for its cheeses, and is one of the top dairy producers in the United States. In the town of Neillsville is Chatty Belle, purported to be the world's largest talking cow. A structural steel and epoxy Holstein, Chatty Belle is 19 feet tall, good sized, but only a little more than half the size of her neighbor to the north, Salem Sue. If at some time in the future you want to see the world's largest cow, the just head to North Dakota. If it's real flesh and blood cows you're after, your best bet would probably be Italy, where the Chianina reigns supreme. You might also have some luck checking out the Holsteins to find the largest cow, but you'd have lots of ground to cover.