A Herd of Staffordshire Cows

 I saw my first real staffordshire cow in 2004, that is, cows in the pottery making region of England.  We were driving on a country road.  I think we were the only car that had ever been on that road, as they saw us coming they all ran over to the fence.

My family teases me because I always have to take photos of sheep and cows when I travel.    I am most famous for chasing sheep up the mountainside trying to get photos

Anyway, back to cows.   Here is a photo of a beltway cow in Scotland.  Aren't they interesting!

Cows in Ireland

Cows in the Cotswolds.  They obviously have enough to eat, all laying down!

 I can't forget my trip to Germany and the Almatreib festival (driving the cows from the mountain pasture at the end of the summer)

Fabulous headresses, gigantic bells, pretty cows!

I'm always saying sometimes it is better to group collections together.  Well, I wandered all over the house and put all my staffordshire cows in one spot.  Quite a herd, don't you think!

 Below are creamers with milkmaids.

It cracks me up the way they all have their mouth open-- because that's how they look, moooo!

Here's a bunch of orange cows.  some are spill vases.  They probably were pairs at some point, but I only have one.  The bottom shelf is a cute pair.

I tend to like the figures with milk maids, as you can see below.

Every time I look at my cows, I remember a childhood story my dad would tell.  He would say:  "when I was a boy, I was a cow boy.  I had a cow, and I would take him to the pasture for the day.   He spoke with a very heavy accent "ven I vas a boy.."  Not being from this country,  a "cow boy"  was different to him than the cowboys of the wild west.  I mean, in his world, the horses were being used to pull plows, if you were lucky enough to have a horse.  Then, the young boys would take the cows to the pasture for the day.

He grew up in Ukraine and was working by the time he was 4 or 5.  His older brother was taking him to the field as a toddler and taking care of him.  As he got "older" he would go out on his own.   He is the little guy on the right.

He would talk about how he would spend the day in the fields "watching" the cow, playing in the stream, trying to catch fish and laying in the fields, watching the clouds roll by.  It sounds like some of the very few happy memories he had as a child.

I've grouped them all in a display cabinet off the kitchen.

You can see why so many staffordshire cow figures were made.  They were an integral part of daily life back then.   Now they are part of mine!