The statue was constructed with the assistance of Woodstock's own local agricultural artist; the late Mr. Ross Butler, who gave freely of his knowledge and skills. Mr. Butler painted two pictures, and helped with the creation of the mold. The mold was cast by the Hamilton Steel Company, and she [statue] is made of bell iron and lead, and is a life-size casting of the Snow Countess. It was nominated as the 'Best Statue in Canada' by the readers of the Toronto Star, on June 27, 1981.
Mr. Dent (proprietor of the Springbank Farm), received a letter from a teacher in Leningrad, who had heard about the statue of a cow and asked for more information about it.
Some facts about the Countess:
-she was born in 1919, on the Springbank Farm, which was owned by the Dent family;
-the farm house stood about where the Canadian Tire Store is now;
-her mothers name was Lettuce Countess, fathers name Pioneer Snow;
-held the World Champion Lifetime Butterfat Producer title until 1952;
-she was larger than an average Holstein;
-she was milked four times a day (most cows are milked only twice per day);
-she gave 12 gallons of milk per day;
-she gave birth to 14 calves, the last was a bull calf- sold to Japan in 1938 for $5,000;
-died in her box stall in the barn, in 1936;
-she was buried just east of where Rochdale Credit Union stands.
About 1932, someone brought a collie pup to the farm. It had a short tail, so he was called 'Bob'. The Snow Countess had a large box stall. The pup was found [there] with the countess, where she nuzzled him to keep him warm through the night. After that they became inseparable.
Bob was a cow dog - he would round-up the cows from the pasture to the barn for milking, but Bob always let the countess take all the time she wanted to walk to the barn. One very hot summer when she was sick, the Dents had to pack ice around her to keep her cool. Bob stayed with her through the whole ordeal. When Snow Countess died, he watched her burial, and then laid on her grave. He lay watch at her grave and refused to eat; therefore it was not a shock to discover the still body of Bob on the grave!
"Extra Information From Quiz Committee: from Debbie Howard: from Lois Bradfield:
From among many excellent answers we received, the following anecdotes
deserve special mention:
"T.R. Dent's son Tom recalls the story of the Snow Countess getting much closer to Hollywood’s stars than as mere filler in the background of a
movie. 'My father was working with one of the first milking machines at the New York World's Fair,' says [Tom] Dent. 'At a banquet he sat beside Carol
Lombard and when they got talking she said she and her husband, Clark Gable, passed through Woodstock on their way up north for a holiday. They knew all
about the Snow Countess, she said. They stopped to look at the statue and even had their picture taken with her. My dad was certainly surprised."
". . . Her owner, Thomas R. Dent, was also a Progressive Conservative MPP for a time. My grandfather, J.L. Stansell, was MPP for Elgin, at the same time,
but he raised and bred Purebred Ayrshires. He once told Thomas Dent that anyone who raised Holsteins was too poor to buy a cow and too proud to buy a
goat. But the remark did not harm their friendship - they were both Conservatives . . ."
Sources:
- Doug M. Symons, 'The Village that Straddled a Swamp'; Woodstock
- Public Library, Historical Files; David Butler, Ross Butler Studio, RR4, Woodstock.