Elsie the Cow (1949) 1

While Heff R. Jones is the official face of National Cow Appreciation Day, we’re harkening back to a time when America was exiting the Great Depression and mascots were as wholesome as their product.

Our candidate for National Cow Appreciation Day is Elsie the Cow.

Elsie the Cow (1949) 1

Elsie was developed for the Borden Dairy Company in 1936. While Borden has gone the way of the dust bowls in which it was spawned, Elsie has moved on to Eagle Family Foods, a subsidiary of sorts of Borden Dairy.

She was one of four anthropomorphized bovines at the beginning of the campaign, but proved the most popular and enduring. Her first live appearance was at the 1939 World’s Fair; the same year Elsie’s advertisement campaign was voted best of the year in the Annual Advertising Awards.

Her first of three comic books was published Oct. 1, 1949.

As for Heff R. Jones, he’s the spokesman for Chick-Fil-A.

Heff, the cow not pornographer, was first featured on billboards in 1995 with the famous “Eat mor chikin” slogan. The franchise’s free meal deal didn’t begin until 2004.

Those unfamiliar with Chik-Fil-A’s offering either don’t live near a restaurant or didn’t read last year’s National Cow Appreciation Day offering.

The day is celebrated on the second Tuesday. Participants may receive free entrée meals from Chick-fil-A.

The promotion was designed to encourage people to eat more chicken. Not only is it supposed to bring more business to restaurants like Chick-fil-A, but to highlight the benefits of chicken over beef and limit the consumption of red meat.

Chicken intake has increased by 400 percent over the past 50 years while beef has stayed on an even keel or even decreased at times.

To offset the increase in intake, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations have become the norm for mass producing our poultry. Chickens are forced to endure overcrowding and filthy living conditions, usually wallowing in their own waste.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for beef.

As far as human health concerns, grass-fed and grass-finished, humanely raised red meat is far more nutrient dense than chickens. People are cautioned to opt for the cow over the chicken if these conditions are met.

So, in addition to appreciation the cow today, we should also appreciate the person raising said meat if they do so humanly.