COWS IN ANTARCTICA

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 46, 23 February 1934, Page 11

COWS IN ANTARCTICA

.PUZZLED AND AFRAID BUT MILKED WELL "An incident of note "'in Littlo America during the time lie was there, said Mr.. B. E. O'Brien, of Wellington, who/ returned by the Jacob. Buppert, "was the, transportation of the cows over the bay ice and up to. the first cache. This work was entrusted to Byron Gay, the' New York composer, Jim Sissons, of the 6.P.0. Eadio Department in Wellington, Muir, the third niato of the-Jacob Euppert, and myself. The cows wcro' unloaded at 15 degrees below zero under a battery- of movie cameras. "The- reaction of the cows to the snow was interesting.' They did not seem to know, -what it ~all was about. They smelt tlie snow for awhile, and then became very frightened. I led •Deerfpot,' a. purebred littlo Guernsey, arid when she- made a break she decided to take, me with hoy. I limij on to1 her head like "a cowboy at a rodeo, but it took n whilo boforo 1 had her steadied down, and, indeed, all the cows seemed frightened of their surroundings. ' They particularly ' distrusted the red route flags, but after they were led up to them and allowed to'sniff-nt them, they sccmod more reassured. , They were heavily wrapped in blankets, for it was below freezing point, and even1 in the. shelter they trembled like leaves. On the way across their eyes, which watered a lot, began to cake withicc, and long icicles formed, and these had to broken off. "The idea of. taking the cows was to have the fresh milk, and they milked wonderfully well. They did not seem to mind tho sea trip. Their cache would bo about two and a half miles from the barrier face. After all that journey, and the frights they must have received, one of them, was milked on arrival, and gave nearly a bucketful of milk. , „.• .■ " ■' . "The journey, as'you can1 well imagine, was quite adventurous. The four of us have the distinction of being the first cowjnen of tho Antarctic. "After delivering and sheltering tho cows at the first cache, Gay, Sissons, arid myself continued our- journey on foot to Little America. Tho weather got gradually worse" as we approached the barrier, until on reaching it wo were in the teeth of a forty-five miles per hour blizzard. Red flags every fifty yards marked tho route. The snow blotted out the flags entirely and our method of progress was to String out singly, each, keeping within' sight of the other until the next flag was picked up. After several hours' strenuous walking, we eventually arrived;'.'>