World's Largest Holstein

World's Largest Holstein AG WORLD Ag World 15-2-18 Move over, Babe. Paul Bunyan's legendary blue ox has some competition for the title of the world's largest bovine. His name is Oscar, and he tips the scales at 4,200 lbs. "When he's full, I'd say he peaks at about 4,500 lbs.," says his owner, Melroy "Shorty" Ronnigen of Pine Island, Minn. That's right. Oscar's four stomachs can hold 300 lbs. of food. Ronnigen and his wife, Nancy, claim that Oscar is the world's largest Holstein steer. A normal market Holstein steer (a neutered male) weighs around 1,200 lbs. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world's record for the largest bovine is 5,000 lbs., held by a Holstein-Durham cross-breed, Mount Katandin, owned by A.S. Rand of Maine. Oscar, age 9, has spent the past two summers traveling to more than a dozen state and district fairs around the Midwest, where he is displayed inside a red-andwhite tent accompanied by his friend Sven - a normal-sized Holstein steer. Oscar's measurements: 6 ft. tall, 12 ft. long, 14 1/2 ft. around the girth, 5 ft. deep in the chest, 3 1/2 ft. across the hip bones and 5 ft. wide across the stomach. The Ronnigens say they feed Oscar standard grain, hay and rater. But the proportions are anything but standard He eats 100 lbs. of corn and 80 lbs. of hay a day and drinks 40 gal. of water. (A daily cost of about $8). "He'll drink 25 gallons of water at a time," says Ronnigen. And Oscar is still growing - structurally, that is. The weight is not being added as fat. In the last three years, the Ronnigens say, he has grown a foot in length. The Ronnigens bought Oscar when he was 3 years old. Ronnigen, who is a cattle buyer, found Oscar at the farm of Urban Mickow, near Plainview, Minn. The Ronnigens said Oscar was being raised as a feeder steer when they bought him at only 2,800 lbs. Mickow had eight other large steers at the time, all from the same sire and all raised on corn silage. But Oscar was a foot longer than the others, and "I really liked the looks of him," recalls Ronnigen. He bought Oscar, he says, with the intention of keeping him as a novelty, and within a few years, people started coming to see the big steer, which had grown to 3,600 lbs. Some of the Ronnigens' friends, impressed with Oscar's size, asked them to show Oscar at the county fair. As word spread, so did the demand for Oscar's appearances. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Melroy Ronnigen, Pine Island, Minn. 55963 (ph 507 356-4260). Reprinted with permission from Saint Paul Pioneer Press.

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