Cows Deserve Sexy Photo Shoots, too

Above: Olivia the cow, owned by Bloyce Thompson of Frenchfort, PEI, poses for a photo shoot with premier livestock photographer, Vicki Fletcher. (Photo property of Eastside Holsteins).

Many Islanders utilize our beautiful beaches for landscape photography, or family photo shoots. Others fancy posing in their bikinis with sunset backdrops. And then, there are those lovely photo opportunities with our four-legged friends.

The beach is no stranger to dogs and other small pets, and the fun pictures we take of our furry companions. Sometimes, even photos with horses - those serene scenes of horses and their owners posing for majestic pictures on our singing sands. But, what about cows? Just ask Bloyce Thompson, farmer and owner of Eastside Holsteins, who facilitated a beach photo shoot for his cow, Olivia, with premier dairy livestock photographer, Vicki Fletcher.

"This is a marketing promo for our herd and breeding. We do one or two [promos] a year, and are planning to do a coffee table book, soon."

Thompson, a third-generation dairy farmer, based out of Frenchfort, PEI, says Eastside Holsteins market their embryos around the world. Their most famous cow, named Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy, sold for 1.2 million in 2009.

Above: Mitch Jonhston, herdsmen of Eastside Holsteins, leads Olivia out into the ocean for a photo in Wood Islands, PEI. (Photo property of Eastside Holsteins. Photographer: Vicki Fletcher).

Thompson, who owns and operates Eastside Farms in Frenchfort, with his wife, Terri, and their three children, Taylor, Alyson, and Jenell, says they milk a herd of eighty cattle daily. He became the sole owner of the dairy farm in 2007.

In lieu of focusing on the hardships that Canadian dairy farmers are going through, with the devastating trade deal that is hitting the industry hard, let us appreciate that we can, at the very least, eye ball those good-looking Canadian cow models, such as Olivia - the Eastside beach babe.