Credit: Submitted Photo

Credit: Submitted Photo

The display, crafted from 2,000 pounds of butter, features the iconic butter cow and calf duo sporting butter medallions, as well as four life-size athletes. There’s a track and field para athlete at the starting line, a gymnast doing a handstand on the balance beam, a cyclist rounding a curve and a high-jumper clearing the bar.

“Every year we try to do something different we’ve never done before, and this year it was conveying the true-to-life motion of each athlete in action,” said lead sculptor Paul Brooke of Cincinnati. “We had to get very creative with the armatures to support the massive weight of the butter. For example, there is a hidden armature to hold up the cyclist as he leans into a curve, and the high-jumper is actually hanging from the ceiling like Spider-Man, so he appears to be jumping over the bar.”

Credit: Submitted Photo

Credit: Submitted Photo

Brooke and his team, consisting of Tammy Buerk of West Chester Twp., Erin Birum of Columbus, dairy farmer Matt Davidson of Sidney and Joe Metzler of Auburn, spent approximately 450 hours to complete the display, with 375 hours dedicated to sculpting inside a 46-degree cooler, according to the American Dairy Association Mideast.

The display started with steel and wooden armatures. Sculptors then went in and started layering butter and refining the shapes. The butter was donated in part by Dairy Farmers of America. The display was finished after the team of sculptors chiseled the fine details.

Credit: Submitted Photo

Credit: Submitted Photo

This isn’t the first time the annual butter cow display has honored athletes, the American Dairy Association Mideast said.

The 2017 display featured high school athletes, the 2010 display recognized two NFL players and the 1997 display included an Ohio State football player and cheerleader.

The butter cow display is presented by the American Dairy Association Mideast, Ohio’s dairy farmer-funded marketing and promotion program. It’s a long-standing tradition that attracts more than 500,000 visitors.

The display can be found inside the Dairy Product Building at the Ohio Expo Center during the Ohio State Fair, which runs through Aug. 4.

We tried to create a butter cow, and here’s what happened

Credit: Jim Noelker

Credit: Jim Noelker

Cox First Media Food & Dining Reporter Natalie Jones and Publisher Suzanne Klopfenstein attempted to make their own butter cows in honor of the display at the Ohio State Fair.

They each started with a wire armature and had 10 minutes to create a cow using eight sticks of butter. It was a lot harder than expected with the cows becoming almost slippery during the process.

Before putting the butter on the armature, they worked the butter into a consistency similar to clay. They both layered the butter onto the frame before sculpting in the details using plastic knives and popsicle sticks.

Business Reporter Thomas Gnau and Intern Ispiro Halabi declared Jones the winner with her cat-like cow.

Credit: Jim Noelker

Credit: Jim Noelker