Knickers, the very fat cow, is not really a cow

Yesterday, the world was introduced to Knickers, a very big Australian cattle. The direction was a show there in the field, benevolently dominating its smaller comrades. (No, Knickers is not a cow, cows are female cattle that have had a calf, a steer is a sterilized male.) The very tall boy is a Holstein Frisian, a breed originally from the north of Holland and northern Germany that man has been breeding for dairy production over the last 2,000 years. He lives on the property of cattle rancher Geoff Pearson in Western Australia.

according to The GuardianKnickers is 6 feet 4 inches tall, one foot to the other – that means it's only three inches shorter than a Mewtwo – and weighs about 1.5 tons, little more than a Toyota Corolla. Although Knickers' size is certainly its most obvious feature, it's not really the most prominent. "I'm not sure he's a monster, but a big Holstein," wrote in an email Alison Van Eenennaam, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Animal Science and a leading researcher in animal genomics. "We have a stencil in California of 193 cm and the Guinness Book of Records contains a Holstein cow of 193 (6 feet 4 inches)." Danniel, the aforementioned California policeman, died this year at the age of eight. . While he was still there, "he ate 100 pounds of hay and 15 pounds of grain and drank 100 gallons of water a day," wrote to Honolulu. Star-Advertiser.

If Danniel and Knickers were able to grow so easily, it's partly because they were not killed: Knickers is seven years old and, according to the USDA, steers turned into meat are usually slaughtered before the age of four years. Its current size and weight, Perth now reported, saved from an untimely death. (He would not go through the processing machines.)

Eenennaam also pointed out that there are larger and heavier breeds than Holstein, "like Chianina, which is both the largest and heaviest breed of cattle," she wrote. "Mature bulls are 1.8 m (5'11") and steers (castrated males) can grow up to 2 m (6'7 "). It is not unusual for bulls to weigh more than 1,500 kg (3,500 lbs) – we do not usually keep Chianinas in Australia, because the maximum size is not usually optimal from the point of view of the cost of production. That is, they eat a lot more – they are fatter. Eenennaam describes the now famous Knickers photo dominating fellow Wagyu cattle as "a bit like photographing a Great Dane with a group of young black Labradors."

Knickers could be more integrated if he had been photographed with a herd of gaurs, Indian cattle whose size regularly reaches the shoulder. He also could have managed in old Europe, where giant cattle called aurochs roamed the land.

According to the Guinness World Book of Records, the highest flying living is a Chianina, named Bellino, which measures about 6 feet 7 inches. Although Knickers is only a little smaller, he will live the rest of his life on the 3,000-acre farm, doing his job. He was bought $ 400 to live as a coach among the other cattle, showing them how to live on a farm. As Pearson said, the owner of Knickers The Guardian"It is obvious that he has acquired a certain celebrity, which has changed his identity a little. We will have to see what happens with that. "