January 18 is one of the best and wildest holidays on the calendar: Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day. On this day in 1930, Nellie Jay the cow became the first cow to fly on a plane. She went from Bismarck, Missouri to St. Louis, and she was milked on the flight. The flight was an exhibition of the plane's abilities, but Nellie was the real star--her milk was put in paper cartons and parachuted down for onlookers below to enjoy. She was chosen for the flight because she was a very calm cow who was known to give lots of milk. After the flight, Nellie Jay became known as the Sky Queen!
Some ways to celebrate this day are to drink a big glass of milk, go milk a cow, or get on a plane. But we're celebrating the best way we know how--with a roundup of on-theme photos! So for this day, to honor the Sky Queen, we've collected photos of cows in places that cows definitely aren't supposed to be. As it turns out, cows are no stranger to breaking and entering! Some of them entered houses, others have just gotten…well, stuck in things. Enjoy these silly cows in silly places!
One place you don't often see cows is in their very own parade! This yearly tradition in the Swiss Alps happens right as summer ends, when herders bring their cows down from the mountains before it gets too cold. It's a whole event in villages all over the country, with street fairs happening on the day their walk. The cows are usually dressed up for the occasion in flowers and bells.
Even better, ahead of the cow parade, herders will sometimes airlift injured cows down the mountain with helicopters! So around September in the Swiss Alps, it's not unheard of for hikers to witness cows just…hanging up in the air in front of a beautiful mountain backdrop.
Sometimes cows just go for a little walk! Reddit user Dr_Heron explained that this cow often shows up in the corner of their parents' yard in England, but that she's usually too shy to come in. This time, though, she decided to try her luck and come all the way in making for a beautiful photo! The poster explained that they know the farmer down the street, and that Hildegaard (as the family fondly calls her) is always herded right home.
In Pike City, Arkansas, local homeowner Latisha Francis came home to a BIG surprise: three cows had made their way into her home! It appears they'd been frightened by a dog who chased them out of their home and caused them to take shelter inside Latisha's. They wreaked some havoc, and ate a lot of dog food, but eventually they were removed by Latisha and her sons who slid the cows along their slippery floor and out the door.
Turns out cows enter homes across the pond too. In Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, a woman who keeps pet cows out in her yard (a not-uncommon trend on the island) discovered after a shower one day that her two cows were walking around her home! What's really crazy though, is that according to the BBC, she usually "locks the door", and that day forgot to lock it. But…that still doesn't explain how the cows OPENED the doors!
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