February 18th is Cow Milked While Flying In An Airplane Day

Each day I take a look at the day’s observances and holidays for fun and to share with listeners.  I’ve seen some pretty wild ones but none as strange as today’s observance: it’s “A Cow Milked While Flying In An Airplane Day”. 

This day comes from an historical event on February 18th in 1931 as part of the International Air Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri when Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane and…wait for it…during the flight she was indeed milked.  Her 24 quarts of milk were then sealed in paper containers and parachuted over St. Louis to spectators below. Not your average way of delivering milk!

You may wonder why the heck this all took place.  I sure did and discovered that it was in part a publicity stunt, and more than that, a scientific study on the effects of air travel on livestock. You also might be interested to know that there were no observed ill effects of air travel on the cow.  Those scientists should have observed me.  Talk about ill effects and I do emphasize the word ill.  Elm Farm Ollie sure was a lot hardier than me while flying in a plane.