Barbwire: Dairy Needs a Hero

By Barb Lumley

Dairy needs a hero

While Melissa patiently waits for my column for the Ohio Holstein News (her deadline is past) I sit here watching SpongeBob SquarePants on television. I am babysitting my four year old great-grandson and when babysitting young children, the children’s shows are a necessity. If you are lucky, they will keep the children quiet for a few minutes, however it is usually ONLY a few minutes in between their other activities. I have a little trouble understanding SpongeBob as he is involved in some strange happenings. Maybe that is due to my age!

There are numerous other children’s shows on TV. There are Monster Machines, Peppa Pig, the Chicken Squad, My Little Pony, Paw Patrol, Baby Sharks, Spidey and many more types of characters and shows. Why don’t they have a children’s show featuring a dairy cow as the hero or a show with dairy calves?

We have all heard about “the cow that jumped over the moon”, although I am not sure that our youth of today know much about her. A cow could be an astronaut and come up with all kinds of stories and ideas about space, the stars and the moon. There could be a “Mother Cow” teaching life lessons. The calves could escape the pasture fence or barn and become involved in all sorts of adventures! Ask any farmer, don’t they often do that? A calf might dream of growing up to be a “kicker”---on a football or soccer team… and they could teach the kids about the importance of drinking milk and eating dairy foods for strength and muscles. Many of the shows involve teaching, so the stars could be used for math, the moon to educate kids about cheese and more! There could be so many ideas with a cow or calf as the hero or heroine and using the show to advertise milk and dairy products. Seems to me the advertising money taken from your milk checks would be well spent. Remember that while those children’s show are often running all day on TV, the adults would be forced to listen to them and repeatedly hear about the importance of milk and dairy products in everyone’s diet!

It would be great if the dairy cow character was a Holstein, however the other breeds could all be friends or neighbors, participate in the adventures and work together to solve problems. We would need a “catchy” name for our hero and one that is easy for the children to remember. “Holly Holstein” might be a good choice. A recent show had the characters seeking a “Golden Chest” filled with something special. With dairy cow or calf characters the chest could be filled with ice cream treats, yogurt, bottles of flavored milk, cheese or even a new baby calf. SpongeBob has a friend named Patrick Star so a good friend for a dairy character might be “Cookie”. Cookies and milk definitely go together! Big City Greens does have a cow, however she never seems to do very much. Cogburn the Rooster rules the roost and is the leader in that show but his decisions always seem to get her and his followers into trouble! (Reminds me of another leader!)

I kept wondering how having to watch SpongeBob SquarePants was going to benefit me. Lo and behold, it has helped me to come up with an idea that could benefit dairy farmers! Now we just need someone to take the idea and make it happen! Hey, COBA/ Select Sires or any of the other AI organizations, could you help promote this idea and get the show rolling? Your bulls could be characters in the shows. Remember Ferdinand? He preferred flowers to fighting. “Doorman” could open and close barn doors and gates for “Holly Holstein” and teach children how to be helpful, polite and mind their manners. Some of those kids watching might be managing dairy farms someday and buying semen.

The shows could be made available for distribution in many ways. It definitely needs to be on television! Copies could be given as awards at dairy shows and numerous other events. Dairy youth groups could sell them. They could be distributed to school children. They could be available at World Dairy Expo, the All-American, the North American International Livestock Exposition, state fairs, county fairs and so many other places! The show could produce toys, games and many more things featuring the dairy hero. The show could have someone write a catchy theme song. Remember the Baby Shark theme song? Parents and adults couldn’t avoid it and even old people knew it!! Who knew that SpongeBob SquarePants could give me the inspiration for a column and an idea for advertising milk and dairy products that could benefit dairy farmers! I just never know where my ideas are going to come from!

Plan ahead to advertise your All-Ohio winner

in the January-February issue! Deadline is January 10!