Steel Sculpture Visits Our Cow Molly Farm Show to Celebrate 160th Great Yorkshire Show

A magnificent galvanised steel sculpture of the Craven Heifer spent today [Sunday 10th June] at Our Cow Molly farm shop in Sheffield for the final stop of its region-wide tour to celebrate the 160th Great Yorkshire Show this summer.

Weighing more than half a tonne and standing at 6ft tall, the GYSheifer towered over crowds at the family-run farm shop’s annual open day. More than 2,000 visitors descended on the farm, which also produces its own-brand ice-cream and is the only dairy farm left in Sheffield which produces and bottles its own milk.

Members of the public were encouraged to post their selfies with #GYSheifer on Twitter. The best picture from each location on the tour will win a family ticket (2 adults & 3 children) worth £75 on the door, £65 in advance.

Show organisers the Yorkshire Agricultural Society commissioned renowned Whitby-based sculptor Emma Stothard to recreate the Craven Heifer who became a national phenomenon in the 1800s. People would pay to see the heifer who was put on show on her way to Smithfield Market, London, and remains the largest heifer ever shown in England and lived in the same era as the first show.

The GYSheifer has been popping up at locations across Yorkshire to promote England’s biggest and best agricultural show and will now take up position at the Great Yorkshire Showground ready for the event. Tickets are now on sale for the show which takes place from Tuesday 10 to Thursday 12 July.

Charles Mills, Show Director, said: “We are always keen to engage the public with the story behind food and farming and are proud to support events such as LEAF Open Farm Sunday here at Our Cow Molly. We’ve had a fantastic day marking the final stop in our region-wide tour. We have a long-standing partnership with the business which supplies milk to the Great Yorkshire Show Cookery Theatre. The GYSheifer will now head ‘home’ to the Great Yorkshire Showground as we begin the final countdown ready for this year’s event in July.”

Ed Andrew, owner of Our Cow Molly farm shop, said: “It was fantastic to welcome the GYS Heifer into the Our Cow Molly herd for the day. Its visit was perfect timing for our Open Farm Sunday event – the national day farms open-up to the public across the country. I hope everyone who came along enjoyed exploring our farm and finding out what a ‘heifer’ actually is!”.

The GYSheifer is a one off, bespoke, life-size sculpture in steel which stands 6ft high, 4ft wide and 11ft long. She was created at sculptor Emma’s Whitby studio before being galvanised in Bradford and powder coated in Middlesbrough. She was then attached to a specially designed Great Yorkshire Show truck by HACS construction services in Ripley – ready for her journey.

The sculpture project has been months in the planning and involved research with experts at Bolton Abbey Estate and the Great Yorkshire’s Chief Cattle Steward Margaret Chapman, whose family have been part of the show for more than 100 years, to ensure the sculpture’s authenticity.

The Craven Heifer was born and bred in Bolton Abbey in the early 1800s. She was so large that a special door twice as wide as the norm had to be built to get her in and out of the cow shed.

The Craven Heifer was a Shorthorn breed and this year will be the first time that the Great Yorkshire Show will host three national cattle breed shows; including the UK Beef Shorthorn Championships the British Simmental Society Show and the National Charolais Show.