Ontario cow Smurf breaks Guinness World Record for milking

Jordan Chittley
Daily Buzz

The Holstein at La Ferme Gillette has now produced more milk than any other cow

A 750-kilogram cow is Canada's newest world record holder and in her world is quite a celebrity.

The 15-year-old Holstein named Smurf, who lives a mostly normal life on a farm just outside Ottawa, has officially produced more milk during her lifetime than any other cow in the world, ever.

"If the Stanley Cup is the ultimate for hockey, for milk production the ultimate is breeding the world champion producer," said Eric Patenaude, a sixth-generation dairy man at La Ferme Gillette, to the Toronto Star.

Recently, she took the record away from a cow in Michigan by producing more 216,000 litres of the frothy white liquid, according to Postmedia News. That's more than six times what the average milking cow produces and she is still going.

While Smurf produces about 50 litres a day - 15 litres more than average, she has produced so much more during her lifetime because of consistency.

Early next month she will deliver a calf and begin her 11th lactation cycle. While most cows wear out and develop lactation or fertility trouble, Smurf just keeps going.

Kind of like breeding race horses, milkers seem to have something to do with pedigree. Smurf's mother produced 140,000 litres in her lifetime and her one female offspring, has already produced 70,000 litres by the age of nine.

Smurf leads a mostly normal life, but she does see a few perks for being such a good milker. Three years ago, when she was getting close to the Canadian record, they moved her to a larger stall. And unlike most Holstein cows, which are shipped out when they can no longer produce more milk, Smurf is going to be buried on the farm.

(Imgae from La Ferme Gillette website)