Farm Beat: Cow statues are coming

We had, at last count, about 550,000 live dairy cows in Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties. Fiberglass cows? Not so much.

The state’s dairy industry aims to fix that with a multicity exhibition of cow statues next fall. Professional and amateur artists will paint and decorate the life-size pieces, which will be auctioned to benefit nonprofit groups that work to improve education.

No word yet on whether the Northern San Joaquin Valley will host any exhibitions, said Norma Leon, a public relations consultant for the event, dubbed CowParade. It is sponsored in part by the California Milk Processor Board, the group behind the famous “Got Milk?” campaign.

“We’re going to promote education, art and our important dairy industry through this fun and creative installation that will be uniquely California,” said Steve James, the board’s executive director, in a news release.

Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, is taking part in the event. So is Karen Ross, secretary of food and agriculture for Gov. Jerry Brown.

CowParade has been staged in about 80 cities around the world. The cows come in three basic positions – standing with head up, grazing with head down, and reclining.

The backers also include actor Jaleel White, who has appeared on “Family Matters,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “Total Blackout.”

“As a father, I place a high value on education, which is a key objective of the Got Milk? CowParade,” he said in the release. “I’m happy to be a part of this program and help bring this important message to families.”

CowParade will start in September, but a schedule has yet to be announced. The event will benefit educational groups that include THINK Together, based in Santa Ana, and STAR Education, based in Culver City. Both offer after-school programs and other enrichment.

More information is at www.gotmilkcowparade.com.

Elsewhere on the Farm Beat:

Full Belly Farm, which produces diverse organic crops in Yolo County, won this year’s Leopold Conservation Award for sustainable agriculture in California. Kautz Farms, a grower of wine grapes in the Lodi and Murphys areas, was a finalist.

The $10,000 honor is named for the late Aldo Leopold, author of “A Sand County Almanac” and a leader in the early conservation movement. It is sponsored by the Sand County Foundation in Wisconsin, the California Farm Bureau Federation and Sustainable Conservation, based in San Francisco.

This story was originally published December 19, 2014 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Farm Beat: Cow statues are coming."