The World’s Largest Cow Statue Is a Sight to Behold

Humans have been creating life-sized statues of things for a really, really long time. One of the ancient wonders of the world, the Statue of Zeus, for example, was an incredible 41-foot-tall sculpture made in 500 B.C. in Greece. While not all statues are as magnificent as towering depictions of deities, it’s certainly good to learn about them. In the US, for example, one statue found in North Dakota is maybe the most accurate depiction of the region, and it’s named Salem Sue, the world’s largest cow statue. Let’s learn a little about it.

The World’s Largest Cow Statue

Sure, the Greeks created a towering god-image of Zeus, but in America, we’ve created the largest cow statue in the world! As the home of McDonald’s and the largest beef producers in the world, it seems rather apt.

The name of the largest cow statue in the world is Salem Sue, although she’s sometimes referred to as The World’s Largest Holstein Cow. Sue is a fiberglass sculpture that was built in 1974 at the cost of $40,000, primarily through donations from local farmers and residents who lived in the area. It was also sponsored by the New Salem Lions Club in order to honor the importance of dairy in the region and how Sue represented the industry. Salem Sue is 50 feet long and 38 feet high, weighing an impressive 12,000 lbs.

The artist who built the statue is a man named Dave Oswald. If you’re wondering what qualifications are needed in order to be commissioned to build the world’s largest cow statue out of fiberglass, well, Oswald probably has them. Oswald is also the artist who built the world’s largest catfish statue, which can be found only a short distance away in Wahpeton, North Dakota.

Where is the World’s Largest Cow Statue?

Salem Sue is located in New Salem, North Dakota, right along the I-94 highway. The statue is about 30 miles west of Bismarck at a location known as School Hill.

Due to the sheer size of Salem Sue and the relative flatness of the surrounding area, the towering cow can be seen for a few miles around town. In order to get up to where Sue is standing, there’s a road that leads to the base of the statue that gives a sweeping view of the surrounding area. Even better, visiting Sue is totally free, although there are donation bins available, in the shape of a milk bucket, of course. The money is used to repaint Sue whenever she needs a little color.

Although Sue is the largest cow in the world, she isn’t the largest animal statue in the world or even the state. The World’s Largest Buffalo Statue can be found in Jamestown, North Dakota, at the Frontier Village, which also happens to be visible from I-95. If you were looking to see the world’s largest cow AND buffalo statues, you only need to drive up the highway! The bison is prominent enough to have caused the nearby city to be referred to as “The Buffalo City.

Why a Cow?

Many reading this may, understandably, be wondering, “Why a cow?” Well, the answer is pretty simple: North Dakota is one of the most important beef and dairy producers in the United States, and as the US is the largest producer of beef globally, North Dakota is among the top beef and dairy producers in the world. The type of cow that Salem Sue is modeled after also gives us a little information about the region.

Holsteins are a breed of dairy cattle known for their high milk production and distinctive black and white markings, exactly like the ones Sue has. They are the most common breed used in the dairy industry, accounting for approximately 90% of the milk produced in the United States. Their widespread adoption is tied to their ability to efficiently produce huge volumes of milk, making them a crucial part of the global dairy industry.

If you weren’t sure about just how important cows and agriculture are to North Dakota, here’s a poem from a brochure that is handed out in nearby gas stations surrounding Salem Sue:

We’ve got the world’s largest Holstein cow, that looks across our fields.

Her presence shows that New Salem grows

with milk-producers’ yields, with milk-producers’ yields, with milk-producers’ yields.

Ballad of the Holstein

The poem is known as the Ballad of the Holstein and is intended to be sung to the tune of Joy to the World.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © amanderson2 / Flickr – License / Original