Exploring the Oregon State Fair: Livestock Exhibits

The Wonder Cow

Ovid Otis Pickard, a well-known cattle breeder in Marion County, was the proud owner of the 1919 grand champion Jersey cow Vive la France. Dubbed The Wonder Cow, she was internationally famous for her record-breaking production of over 5000 pounds of butterfat in a six-year period. When Vive died, she was honored with a burial in front of Ovid’s home and a granite tombstone to mark her final resting place. After Ovid’s death, Vive and her granite tombstone were moved to the Oregon State Fairgrounds between the Poultry and Livestock buildings.

Herman the Sturgeon

Herman the Sturgeon, Oregon’s most famous fish, was a fixture at the Oregon State Fair for nearly 50 years. He is so popular that he has his own Facebook page, starred in a National Geographic documentary, and was in a music video. Herman is over 79 years old, is 11 feet long and weighs in at about 500 pounds. Herman “retired” from making appearances at the Oregon State Fair in the mid-1980s and now resides at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.

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