Farming’s great feats: Meet Australia’s Guinness World Record holders
We’ve rounded up a global list of agriculture-related records, from fastest harvest to most cows killed by lightning. SEE THE LIST
Beef and rural property might be setting new price benchmarks weekly in Australia currently, but agriculture is no stranger to a record or two.
With the help of our friends at Guinness World Records we have rounded up a global list of agriculture-related feats, everything from the greatest number of cows killed by a single bolt of lightning, to the nation with the highest proportion of organic farming and the fastest marathon run by someone dressed as a farmer.
MOST EXPENSIVE COW
A Friesian cow sold for US$1.3 million at an auction at East Montpelier in the US state of Vermont in July 1985.
LARGEST GATHERING OF PEOPLE DRESSED AS COWS
1352 people took part in the Cow Muster (Australia) during the Deja Moo Country Fair in Cowaramup, Western Australia, in July 2014.
MOST EXPENSIVE BULL
A pedigree Limousin bull, Dolcorswllyn Fabio, was sold by UK breeder Glyn Vaughan for $198,324 at an auction in the UK in February 2012.
FASTEST TIME TO SHEAR A MERINO LAMB
Australian shearer Dwayne Black took 53.88 seconds to shear a single Merino lamb carrying 1.65kg of wool at a competition in China in September 2007.
OLDEST COW
Big Bertha, a Dremon owned by Jerome O’Leary of Kerry in Ireland, lived for 48 years and nine months up until its death in 1993.
TALLEST COW
Blossom, owned by Patricia Meads-Hanson from Illinois in the US, measured 190cm from the hoof to the withers in May 2014.
SHORTEST BULL
Humphrey, a miniature Zebu owned by Joe and Michelle Gardner, measured just 67.7cm at Kalona Veterinary Clinic in Iowa in April 2018.
MOST CALVES
Red Rabbit, a cow from the Santa Clara Ranch at Reynosa Tamaulipas in Mexico, gave birth to five calves on March 18, 2005.
OLDEST SHEEP
Grandma, a Horned Dorset ewe owned by Andrew Moore and Linda Edwards from Oregon in the US, was recorded at 23 years and 341 days in May 1994.
TALLEST SHEEP
Stratford Whisper 23H – a Suffolk ram owned by Joseph and Susan Schallberger from Oregon in the US – stood at a height of 109cm in March 1991.
MOST EXPENSIVE SHEEP
Sportsmans Double Diamond, a Texel ram lamb bred by the Boden family of Cheshire in England, sold for a record $US490,473 at auction at Lanark in Scotland in August 2020.
GREATEST MILK YIELD BY A COW IN A LIFETIME
Smurf, a Holstein cow owned by La Ferme Gillette Inc. Dairy Farm in Ontario, Canada, notched up a record 216,891kg of milk solids as a 15-year-old in February 2012.
GREATEST MILK YIELD BY A COW IN 24 HOURS
A Girolando-Holstein cow, Marilia, produced 123.61 litres of milk during mechanical milking in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August 2019.
OLDEST FARM HAND
Ike Weitz (born, August 24, 1908) became the oldest recorded farm hand in August 1998 when he harvested alfalfa hay on Wayne Arnold Farms at Shafter in California.
HIGHEST PROPORTION OF ORGANIC FARMING
An estimated 26 per cent of Liechtenstein was farmed organically in September 2011.
LARGEST VERTICAL FARM
Opened in November 2016, AeroFarms grows 250 different types of vegetables and herbs, producing 907,000kg of produce, inside a 6410 sqm former steel mill in Newark, New Jersey.
LARGEST PRISON FARM
The maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary, north of Baton Rouge, is set on a 73 sqkm farm and in July 2020 was home to 5489 prisoners.
MOST LAMBS SHORN IN EIGHT HOURS
New Zealander Justin Bell sheared a whopping 731 lamb at Opepe Trust Farm in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, in December 2002.
LARGEST DISPLAY OF SCARECROWS
A record 3812 scarecrows were erected at the National Forest Farm in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, UK, in August 2014.
FASTEST PADDOCK TO LOAF — MICROWAVE
The fastest time for producing a baker’s dozen – 13 loaves – from growing wheat in 8 minutes, 13.6 seconds, set by Montana Farms Bakery at Three Forks, Montana, in September 1995 using 13 microwaves.
MOST EXPENSIVE PORK
A pork carcass produced by Japan’s Hitachi Farm Co sold for the equivalent of US$12,756 at the Tokyo Meat Market in August 2017.
HEAVIEST MANGO
Colombian farmers German Orlando Novoa Barrera and Reina Maria Marroquin boast the record for growing the heaviest mango, which tipped the scales at 4.25kg in 2021.
LARGEST HORN CIRCUMFERENCE ON A BULL
CT Woodie, an Ankole Watusi bull owned by Utah farmers Duane and Kolene Gilbert had a measured horn circumference of 103.5cm in September 2004.
LARGEST HORN SPREAD ON A STEER
Poncho Via, a steer owned by the Pope family at Goodwater in Alabama, had a horn spread of 323.74cm in May 2019. Picture
LONGEST HORNS ON A BULL
Gopal, a bull owned by an animal protection centre at Gujarat in India, had horns that each measured 1.4m when they were surgically removed in August 2002.
MOST DRAUGHT HORSES PLOUGHING SIMULTANEOUSLY
The Mullahead and District Ploughing Society had a record 84 draught horses ploughing simultaneously in February 2015.
LONGEST COMBINE HARVESTER JOURNEY
Three Russian-made Yenisei harvesters made a journey of 5300km from Krasnoyarsk and Orel in Russia in May and June 2003.
MOST COMBINE HARVESTERS WORKING SIMULTANEOUSLY
Harvest for Kids (Canada) organised 303 combine harvesters to work simultaneously in a single field in Manitoba, Canada, in August 2018.
MOST WHEAT HARVESTED IN EIGHT HOURS
New Holland holds the record for harvesting 797.656 tonnes with a CR10.90 harvester in Lincolnshire, England, on August 15, 2014.
MOST CORN HARVESTED IN EIGHT HOURS
US farmer Jay Justice III harvested 19,196.59 bushels of corn using a Caterpillar 485 Lexion Combine at Beckley in West Virgina on September 14, 2001.
HIGHEST WHEAT YIELD
Eric Watson harvested 17.398 tonnes/ha of wheat in an 8.6ha paddock near Wakanui in New Zealand’s Canterbury region in February 2020.
LARGEST BUNCH OF BANANAS
The largest bunch of bananas, containing 473 individual bananas, was grown by Kabana SA and Tecorne SL in Spain’s Canary Islands in January 2001. Picture
BIGGEST STEAK AVAILABLE
A 5.67kg rump steak was on the menu of the Kestrel Inn in Derbyshire, England, in 2000.
MOST EXPENSIVE SHEEP DOG
Kim, a 12-month-old female red-and-white Border Collie bred and trained by Dewi Jenkins from near Aberystwyth in Wales, sold for US$38,893 at an online auction in February 2021. Picture
LARGEST AREA PLOUGHED IN 24 HOURS
Matthias Robrahn of Pogeez, Germany, ploughed 91.37ha with six-furrow plough, to a depth of 25cm, in September 1992.
LARGEST PADDOCK OF WHEAT SOWN
The largest single-fenced field sown with wheat measured 14,160ha in Alberta, Canada, in 1951.
FASTEST MARATHON DRESSED AS A RANCHER
Dressed as a cowboy to celebrate agriculture, Canadian Justin Kurek completed the 2017 Calgary Marathon in a time of two hours, 42 minutes and 14 seconds. Picture
LARGEST BUNCH OF GRAPES
Spanish grower Sebastian Gomez Falcon holds the record for the largest bunch of grapes ever produced, which weighed in a 10.12kg. Picture
FASTEST SHEEP TO JUMPER
It took Team Groenewoud four hours and 45 minutes to hand knit “from sheep to jumper” in the Netherlands in May 2017.
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