01/25/2025
In the image is Charity the award-winning cow. She was sold for $1,450,000 to Romandale Farms Ltd., with Stephen B. Roman casting the winning bid and seen in the photo. He set an all time record for the price of a cow.
This award-winning Supreme Champion of the Holsteins won awards at the World Dairy Expo in 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1987 and was a nine-time all-Canadian or all-American show cow who never managed to win over her new audience on Charity Crescent that was named in her honour.
Markham residents were upset to see her up on stilts as a piece of artwork grazing in the sky that they wanted her gone. The $1.2 million stainless steel cow depicted her life on Romandale Farm adorned with a wreath to symbolize her winnings. Charity even brought out the public art critics, and the historians who believed the cow memorialized the farm that once stood on that site.
Yet, one farmer claimed that Charity never stepped foot on any farm in Markham. Some said the statue could cause safety issues, impact property values, and might even be offensive. So, the heirs of Stephen B. Roman, the cow’s owner, donated the statue and the shiny cow was gone.
The Roman family founded Romandale Farm in King in 1950, then moved their operation to Gormley in 1954, then on to Markham in 1957.
In a list of the eight greatest North American show cows of all time, The Bullvine ranked Charity as number one.
📸 thebullvine.com
