California’s happy cows laugh at Wisconsin In a story chock full of cheese puns, the AP reports that California is set to pass Wisconsin as the nation’s top cheese producer—and wonders if Wisconsin should meet California’s “happy cows” on the field of battle with some high-profile advertising of its own. On the subject of California cheese, Wisconsin milk-board rep Patrick Geoghegan “turns up his nose faster than a 5-year-old offered his first slice of Limburger,” says the story, as it really lays it on thick. Geoghegan claims Wisconsin cheese is simply of a higher quality. A state tourism rep concurs: “You put a pound of cheddar from Wisconsin next to a pound of cheddar from California and ours is going to taste better, and that’s what it’s all about.” But maybe it’s about image, too. A marketing professor quoted in the piece says Wisconsin should create ads that focus on the state’s family-owned dairy farms and expose the happy cows as the lackeys of big corporate farms. “I think maybe California would be the evil empire and Wisconsin would be the good guys,” the professor says. “That’s something that would go over very well.” Except in California, of course, where the happy cows would no doubt plan an all-out counteroffensive. —Posted by Tim Nudd

December 12, 2006 | Permalink

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"During July, 2006, a record-breaking heat wave of triple digit temperatures slammed California for a week. 100 people in the agrarian belt died so fast that the morgues had to double stack the bodies. 16, 500 cows dropped over dead in the fields"

"Happy Cows" my Wisconsin ass.

Posted by: j03 | Dec 12, 2006 1:27:29 PM

Yeah, but at least they perished happy and warm. And not having to root for the Packers.

Posted by: Bob | Dec 13, 2006 8:56:06 AM

Wisconsin will ALWAYS be the dairy state. Nice try California, but you fucking suck.

Posted by: Brooke | Jan 15, 2007 11:50:21 AM

ok california, go find a different mascot for your state, you have enough of them, rich people, snooty actors, and the O.C. california does not have enough time to keep their cows "happy" anyways. and california might say they make more cheese.... but they are including cheetos, Wisconsin isn't. besides, WI cheese tastes waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better then california cheese. and BTW, j03, cows dont root for the packers, people do, that is the lamist exuse EVER (read the top comment, I highly doubt California cows are happy if the weather is extremly hot there and 16500 cows drop over dead)

Posted by: go back to sluty actors being your symbol california, it looks better on you | Jan 17, 2007 7:20:25 PM

WI cheese taste like it was made from the 16500 dead cows from Calif. so blow me

Posted by: mmmmmmmmGOOD | Nov 15, 2008 6:52:46 PM

Haha Tastes like 16,500 dead cows? Maybe you ought to come up to Wisconsin and taste the fresh cheese sometime. It'll change your world. Seriously, WI cheese is the best. Hands down. Look at WI culture, the money invested at UW-Madison into dairy sciences, and all of the slightly portly cheese lovers here in the state :)

Seriously though, it's nearly irrefutable. Wisconsinites love their cheese, and go to extraordinary lengths to make it the best!

Posted by: Sconnie | Nov 26, 2008 11:26:14 AM

wisconsin strives for quality not quantity.
I LOVE Wisconsin

Posted by: Jennifer | Dec 26, 2008 10:31:26 PM

cows in wisc0nsin are simply amazing... absolutely perfect!!!

Posted by: moooooers in wi | Jan 19, 2009 1:45:23 AM

California has a record of excelling in industries that are traditionally associated with other parts of the world. As with the wine industry, California is now crafting inventive artisanal cheeses of exceptional quality.

Although Wisconsin has a proud history of cheesemaking, that history is more accurately representative of the state's dying dairy industry. The small Wisconsin dairy farmers that remain are barely eking out a living. Dairies that have a chance of survival will be the corporate farms, family-owned as many are in California.

Yes, a few inventive cheesemakers have sprung from the ashes of Wisconsin's dairying tradition, making products that are very presentable at a U.S. table. But, Wisconsin's sizeable cheesemaking infrastructure is centered on commodity cheeses--not cheeses that could ever hope to rival the cheeses of Europe.

Wisconsin's cheese promotion organizations are home-grown entities, lacking in a wider world view and anxious to maintain their comfortable status quo. Sadly, they're funded from the coffers of a state dairy industry that can't afford the excesses and misbegotten marketing strategies sold to them.

Posted by: seattle | Jan 19, 2009 5:39:56 PM

I think its funny they air those ads in the mid-west. That just sounds like a great ad, trying to sell your cheese in the midwest while insulting them at the same time.

Posted by: Bill | Jul 27, 2009 5:32:49 PM

cows in wisc0nsin are simply amazing... absolutely perfect!!!

Posted by: بلياردو | Sep 19, 2009 2:04:25 AM

dairy farmers in WI are not barely making a living. that is just a stupid thing to say. there are many family operated farms that do very well. sure, they may sell to big corp. and distribute corporately. but many of them are still family owned and operated.

Posted by: kdjks | Dec 14, 2009 11:34:07 PM

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