{"id":236596,"date":"2026-07-06T11:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236596\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T11:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:34:13","slug":"a-cow-beauty-pageant-honors-rural-pennsylvanias-shrinking-dairy-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236596\/","title":{"rendered":"A cow beauty pageant honors rural Pennsylvania\u2019s shrinking dairy industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">TOWANDA, Pa. \u2014 Her full name was Cashells Jry Shakira-Red-ET \u2014 Shakira to keep it simple \u2014 and like her namesake, the big red and white Holstein had 6-foot hips that didn\u2019t lie as she hoofed down Main Street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Shakira is a showgirl accustomed to winning, one of the few cows that allowed judges to place a floral crown on her head at the Bradford County dairy cow beauty pageant in Towanda on June 20, about 100 years after their last one. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cThe most beautiful dairy cow in Bradford County, folks,\u201d said Duane Naugle, Bradford County\u2019s community planner and the day\u2019s emcee. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Other winners were Skylar, a Lineback heifer, and Camo, a doe-eyed Brown Swiss calf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cThey\u2019re my favorite breed. They\u2019re just so dopey and docile,\u201d Miranda Neville, a dairy farmer out of Warren Center, said of Camo. \u201cI mean, just look at her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Bradford County, population 59,600, sits about 175 miles northwest of Philadelphia in North Central Pennsylvania. County officials said they found an old, black-and-white photo of a similar beauty pageant from 1926 in the county courthouse recently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">The purpose of that contest a century ago, organizers said, was to highlight the county\u2019s bustling dairy industry. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cGetting down to the main idea, it may be stated that the Chamber of Commerce has seized upon this opportunity of giving recognition to the basic industry of Bradford County \u2014 dairying,\u201d The Daily Review newspaper wrote in 1926.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Officials figured that old photo was a sign, a good-enough reason to get cows on Main Street as part of the county\u2019s ongoing celebration of America\u2019s 250th. There was also free ice cream, a cow milking contest, and other livestock to pet. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">A lot has changed in dairy over the decades, as dairy farms have shuttered by the thousands, nationwide. In 2025, the USDA reported 23,609 dairy farms across the country, a 70% decrease in just 20 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Earlier this year, <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/life\/outdoors\/new-jersey-salem-county-dairy-farm-20260510.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/life\/outdoors\/new-jersey-salem-county-dairy-farm-20260510.html\">The Inquirer chronicled the plight<\/a> of a longtime dairy farm in New Jersey\u2019s most rural county. Owners there were denied a variance to install solar panels and stopped milking shortly after. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cWe have been losing money for the last 10 years,\u201d a young farmer there told The Inquirer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Henry Farley, the mayor of Sayre, Bradford County, said there were 41,311 dairy cows in the county in 1920. That number is down to 10,059 dairy cows today, he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cWe remain an agricultural county, and dairy is still a big part of it,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is still rural America, and this was a great way to showcase that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Top employers in Bradford County include medical facilities, a mill, Walmart, and Cargill, a beef-processing plant in Wyalusing, <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/news\/dairy-baseball-phillies-cargill-pennsylvania-20240505.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/news\/dairy-baseball-phillies-cargill-pennsylvania-20240505.html\">where most major league baseballs are made<\/a> from dairy cow hides.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Many of the farmers in Towanda on June 20 owned small farms, which are the hardest to keep afloat. Most of the owners couldn\u2019t depend on dairy as a full-time income and worked other jobs as a result.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Many dairy farms in Bradford County have transitioned to beef, poultry, or swine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cWell, it\u2019s pretty simple. Dairy prices are down, and beef is up,\u201d said dairy farmer McKenzie Slater. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Neville said she still milks 60 cows at her dairy, Vin-Deb Farms, but it\u2019s not her only source of income. She also works for Bradford County\u2019s conservation district. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cWe all have full-time jobs, too, along with farming,\u201d Neville said. \u201cThat\u2019s normal around here.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Even Shakira, the showgirl, still milks, producing more than 11 gallons per day. She\u2019s just preened and washed a bit more. Her udders hung low on Main Street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cShe\u2019s milking pretty heavy right now,\u201d said owner Hannah Watson, of Columbia Crossroads, Bradford County. \u201cIt\u2019s whole milk, straight from the cow.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min TOWANDA, Pa. \u2014 Her full name was Cashells Jry Shakira-Red-ET \u2014 Shakira to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101877,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-236596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-cow-beauty-pageant-towanda","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}