In 2000 a retired dairy farmer - Pete Ondrus of Michigan, USA - realised that the Guinness Book of World Records had no record for the fastest cow. In response he founded the Mid-Michigan Cow Racing Association and the World-Wide Cow Racing Association, with the motto “Don’t milk them, race them”. He held his first cow race that year, and it appears to be an annual event although his website has not been updated since 2004. Most people would not be surprised to find that such an event began in America, but did it?

Pete Ondrus was apparently unaware of the Compass Cup, a cow race which has taken place every year since 1974 in the town of Mt Compass in South Australia. As far as I can tell, this was probably the world’s first organised public cow racing event. It began when a 12-year-old Guernsey was called in for milking and ran full speed for the milk shed. This fired the imagination of a Rural Youth Adviser, who formed a committee and organised a cow race as a fund-raising event for the town. Its popularity grew, despite the challenges of getting any cow to go fast, and the 34th annual Compass Cup was held last weekend.

If you picture people sitting on dairy cattle and trying to make them race, and making a big community event out of it, the phrase “only in America…” may be a normal response. So for me it’s strangely satisfying to think that Australians can lead the world in this delightfully unconventional activity.

Photo credit: CompassCup.com.au