Meet Petunia the Jersey Cow

There aren’t many reasons for my birth state of Iowa to pop up on the news over here in Scotland. While us locals know it for many things, it tends to get narrowed down to the birthplace of James T. Kirk and Bill Bryson, the Bridges of Madison County, the Iowa Primary for the US presidential election and confused with both Idaho and Ohio. Occasionally, we get in the paper for other things, but if it is August, it usually has to do with the Iowa State Fair and its dubious fair food. A few years ago, it was the deep fried butter on a stick that became a talking point on these shores. Oh yes, you read that right. Deep fried butter. This gimmick really overshadowed the long standing and much more respectable Iowa State Fair tradition of butter carving. For over 100 years, Iowa has upheld the traditional display of the butter cow in the agricultural building.

Long story short, the love of butter runs deep in this Iowa girl. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that while goats are great for cheese and milk, cream and butter are a bit of a non starter (at least not without a lot of effort) for milking goats. So plans were hatched and last week saw the arrival of our own butter maker - in the form of one Jersey cow named Petunia.

She is four years old and has the longest eyelashes ever. She has arrived to us pregnany and we expect milk and butter and cream and mozzarella and a calf in June. Kevin, historically afraid of cows, is completely smitten.

We’ve put together a wee video all about her and I will keep you updated on the butter.