Holy cow - giant Friesian may be tallest in UK (OF COURSE there are pictures :-))

BNPS

The owners of Chilli, a black and white Friesian steer, believe he may be the tallest bovine in Britain.

Naomi Clarke, care manager of the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, Somerset, who raised the bullock, said: “As he was growing up we began noticing that he was bigger than our other cattle.

”He now stands at 6ft 6ins from the floor to the top of his shoulder and he is massive when he holds his head up.”

Despite his size, Miss Clarke described him as being “very friendly and gentle.”

The steer grazes on grass during the day and enjoys the occasional swede as a treat. A farmer abandoned him and his twin sister Jubilee on the sanctuary's doorstep in September 1999, when he was six days old. The sanctuary named him Chilli because it already had a cow called Chutney.

He would normally have been on a farm and slaughtered for meat at an early age. But because he has been in a sanctuary he has lived to the age of nine.

Miss Clarke said: “As the years passed we noticed he was getting rather tall.

”Although he weighs over a ton he is quite lean and not as fat as some of his companions. We don't know what has made him so tall. He doesn't eat that much and Jubilee is 6ft in comparison. His feet and head are in proportion; he is just very large.”

Balancing him on a set of scales would need 16 St Bernard dogs; 12 newborn elephants; five adult gorillas; or 1.5 Smart cars. He could provide 5,510 8 oz steaks.

The sanctuary has referred Chilli's details to Guinness World Records in the hope that it might claim a record. Guinness World Records said it was researching the application.

As of November last year, the record for the tallest oxen is Fiorino, an Italian chianina ox who measured 6 ft 8 in to the withers.

The largest cow on record was an American Holstein-Durham cross named Mount Katahdin, which stood at 6 ft 2 in and had a girth measuring 13 ft. The cow died in a barn fire in 1923.

Pictured The giant 6ft cow that is as big as a small elephant the Daily Mail

Chilli the giant cow stands at 6ft 6ins and weighs well over a ton

Chilli lives at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, Somerset

Despite his grand stature, Chilli only grazes on grass during the day and enjoys the occasional swede as a treat

Translation Assistance:

Despite his grand stature, Chilli only grazes on grass during the day and enjoys the occasional swede as a treat

I'm guessing that the articles are referring to this

Definition swede in Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus

swede - definition from dictionary.die.net

Swede

     2: a cruciferous plant with a thick bulbous edible yellow root
        [syn: rutabaga, turnip cabbage, Swedish turnip, rutabaga
        plant, Brassica napus napobrassica]
     3: the large yellow root of a rutabaga plant used as food [syn:
         rutabaga, swedish turnip, yellow turnip]

UK Agriculture - Four Seasons

Winter
Swede, a seasonal root crop that provides lots of fibre and energy and tastes great when mashed and seasoned. Swedes became important as a field crop in the eighteenth century providing fresh vegetable through the autumn and winter months; lifting lasts until March.
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And they're probably NOT referring to this:

ABBA - The Site

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Holy cow - giant Friesian may be tallest in UK

Weighing 1.25 tons, and towering 6ft 6in at the shoulder, Chilli, dwarfs most horses, is the same height as a small elephant, and could provide enough steaks to feed an army.