A true story from long ago
The Cows Who Went to Antarctica
Almost 100 years ago, three cows sailed to the coldest place on Earth. Let's find out what happened!
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Meet the cows!
Flip a card to see a historic picture
Photo: Wisconsin Historical Society
Photo: Morris Rosenfeld and Sons, 1933 · Mystic Seaport Museum
Photo: Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
Source: Historic souvenir badge via Dairy Moos
All of them were Guernsey cows. Guernseys are golden brown and white, and they make creamy yellow milk.
Their big trip
The cows and their handlers beside the Jacob Ruppert before the long voyage.Source: Historic photograph via Dairy Moos
Fall 1933All aboard!
The cows got on a big ship called the Jacob Ruppert. The trip took about three months. That's a long boat ride!
A real medal celebrating the cows’ expedition. A keepsake from their adventure, not a baby photograph.Source: Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
On the shipSurprise! A baby!
Klondike had a baby calf right on the ship. Everyone named him Iceberg. People all over America read about him in the newspaper.
The real Antarctic dairy, tucked beneath the snow and ice.Photo: Guernsey Breeders Journal, November 1935
In AntarcticaA barn made of ice
At the snowy camp called Little America, the cows lived in a cozy barn built from wood and blocks of ice.
The cow keeper beside one of his charges, pictured on the Byrd Center film’s cover.Source: Film cover · Byrd Center, Ohio State
Every dayFarmer Edgar helps
A dairy farmer named Edgar Cox took care of the cows. He fed them hay and milked them. The cows made more milk than everyone could drink!
The famous expedition cows made the news! This old clipping shows a cow meeting a crowd.Source: Historic newspaper clipping via Dairy Moos
Spring 1935Welcome home!
Deerfoot, Southern Girl, and Iceberg sailed home. People threw them a party with a fancy snack: hay with ice on top!
70 below zero
Brrr! How cold was it?
Some days it was 70 degrees below zero. That's way colder than the inside of your freezer at home!
Help Farmer Edgar milk!
Tap the cow to fill a milk bottle. Can you count all the way to 10?
Barn buddies
Workers gathering hay in a historic farm photograph. Hay is dried grass saved for animals to eat. This is a period example, not the expedition’s hay.Source: Marion Post Wolcott · dated 1935–1942 · Library of Congress
Lots of hay
The ship carried tons and tons of food for the cows to munch.
See the real cows!
People filmed the cows on the ice long ago. Watch the old movie with a grown-up.
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