Meet Annabelle: The World’s Most Expensive Lawn Ornament

Annabelle and Honey her calf

If you've visited Heritage Springs Family Farm in Catharpin, Virginia, you've probably met Annabelle.

Or more accurately, you’ve probably seen Annabelle. From a distance. Annabelle is not particularly social.

BUT what she lacks in social skills she makes up for in…well, let’s think about that.

Annabelle has lived on our farm for 4 years, and despite her personality, we have fallen in love with her.

Annabelle, therefore, will never be sold for beef.

Also, despite calving in the fall, Annabelle does not allow anyone to milk her, so she doesn’t contribute to our farm’s raw milk herd-share.

While Annabelle has firmly rejected the idea of becoming a dairy cow herself, she remains extremely interested in the milking process.

Entirely because snacks are involved.

Twice a day, our sweet and personable Jersey cow Patience receives snacks while she is milked. Annabelle watches this arrangement with great interest.

She would very much like the snacks.

She would very much not like to be milked.

In Annabelle's ideal world, she would receive all of the benefits of being a dairy cow while contributing absolutely nothing to the process.

The reason I know Annabelle feels this way is because she is extremely vocal about expressing her feelings. She shares her big feelings about lack of snacks with very big moos. Or at least very loud moos.

Annabelle does not really have a big moo. Her moo starts with confidant bravado, cracks dramatically about halfway through, and ends in a high-pitched shriek.  It is not a pleasant sound.

Annabelle’s dad was a miniature Highland. Her mom was a White Park and miniature Longhorn cross. The result is what I like to call "Highland-ish."

She's shaggy. She's horned. She's fluffy. She's unique.

And she's 100% Annabelle.

Annabelle as a calf with her little ear nubs

She was born on a farm in Pennsylvania on a bitterly cold, snowy morning. The weather was so severe that her ears suffered frostbite. By the time she recovered, both ears had been permanently damaged and eventually fell off.

If you've ever wondered why Annabelle looks a little different from other cows, that's why.

It was determined that Annabelle would not earn a lot of money in the “designer cow” market because her ear nubs made her “undesirable”. She was on her way to the slaughterhouse as soon as she grew up enough to be worth butchering.

I had just returned from a deployment to the Middle East around that time, and one of the first things on my “to do” list was to find a miniature jersey cow for our farm.

I wanted to add dairy cows, and miniature jerseys seemed like a good entry point into the dairy cow world.

Annabelle is very obviously not a miniature jersey (and for the record, I still do not have a miniature jersey), but somehow, in my search, I happened upon this little mess of a cow.

I did some reading and found out that in Scottland, Highland cows are often considered dual purpose- meaning they are used for meat or milk. They don’t produce nearly as much milk as a jersey cow (or even a miniature jersey cow), but I figured one or two gallons of milk a day would be plenty.

I asked the farmer who was selling her to halter train her for me. He asked me why on earth I wanted to halter train a beef cow. Not the first time a “real” farmer made me feel ridiculous about a plan I had come up with- and certainly not the last, but I held my ground.

Annabelle’s halter “training”

He quoted me the price for halter training, pocketed my money, and did almost next to nothing to halter-train the little monster that I was having shipped to my farm.

When she arrived and I realized the concept of being led by a halter was completely foreign to her, I put a halter on her and started halter-training her myself. Or rather, I went through the motions of halter-training her. I did the training. Annabelle refused to do the learning.

Annabelle does wear a halter, but it serves absolutely zero function.

Annabelle wearing her decorative halter

Annabelle may have nubs for ears, a questionable personality, terrible work ethic, no training, and atrocious singing abilities, but she did grow up to have a massive set of horns. Horns that are both impressive and terrifying.

Several “real” farmers have called me crazy for allowing a cow with horns to live on my farm. They’ve scolded me for not cutting her horns off. Some have offered to come over and do it themselves.

I didn’t exactly tell them to jump in a lake, but nobody will be cutting the horns off of my cow.

Dehorning a grown cow is extremely painful for the cow and extremely dangerous- it can lead to serious infection and even death if there are complications.

I don’t turn my back on her when I’m with her in the pasture, but I’m not particularly concerned she will gore me.  I’m simply cautious. I think you should be cautious around any animal that weights 1,200 lbs. and has a permanent chip on her shoulder because she doesn’t get the number of snacks she thinks she deserves.

While Annabelle doesn’t use her horns for evil (usually), she does use them for collecting things.

Hay.
Spider webs.
Occasionally pieces of the farm.

Annabelle using her horns to store snacks for later

I affectionately refer to Annabelle as one of our Lawn Ornaments. She’s nice to look at, but she serves no other purpose. Annabelle excels at being a Lawn Ornament. She takes her job of doing nothing very seriously.

Not every animal on our farm has to produce a product to have value.

Annabelle’s value isn’t measured in gallons of milk or pounds of beef.

Her value is in making us laugh, teaching us patience, and reminding us that it’s okay to be different.

We plan to give Annabelle a safe place to spend her days and we love her for exactly who she is.

Unfortunately retirement isn’t free. Even lawn ornaments need snacks. And hay. A LOT of hay.

We love Annabelle exactly as she is- a Highland-ish, hangry, scraggly cow with nubby ears and usually something ridiculous caught in her horns.

If you would like to help sponsor Annabelle and her dream of doing nothing, Heritage Springs is now offering opportunities to do just that!

Keep an eye out for Christmas in July ornaments featuring one of our favorite lawn ornaments. All proceeds go toward providing the life of pampered leisure that Annabelle truly excels at living.