Calf with a cross on its head

Praise be, this holy calf was born a week ago on a Sterling, Connecticut farm owned by Brad Davis. From WFSB:

Davis said, "Well, I think it's maybe a message from up above. I'm not sure. We're still trying to figure that out."
Megan Johnson of Sterling said, "Well I wasn't surprised. I wasn't surprised at all because the dairy industry has needed a miracle for a long time and this is it. I think it's divine intervention, personally. I'm in the breeding business and I know about reproduction and genetics and I don't think this could happen again in a million cows."

"Cow Born With Divine Symbol" (via Fortean Times)

Previously:

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Anonymous

This is a miracle? What, God couldn’t think of something a little more dramatic than reaching into a cow’s womb and rubbing a calf’s forehead like a Catholic priest on Ash Wednesday? I mean, ok, it’s a pretty neat trick, but why not ALL the calves on the farm, or every single one throughout the world?

The universe is huge, and unlikely events happen all the time. In the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t merit even a second glance, and is certainly not proof of any divine will.
Anonymous

Find me the cow with a penis shape on it’s head and I’ll start thinking miracle… or at least ‘bloody funny’.
Anonymous

It’s a good start, but what I really need is an ox with a little white horse-head on it. Then I can name it Hippocephalus and ride it to the conquer the Mid-west.
Anonymous

X marks the spot for the captive bolt pistol. :-/
aelfscine

The Seventh Sign will be when people understand how freaking randomness works.
Felton

Will the cow’s milk be pastor-ized?
- Talia
  
  oh you evil man.
  HAHHAHAHAHA. :D
Doomstalk

Sacred calf, anyone?
Lissamphibia

Statistics! This is what happens when people don’t think about probability: “I don’t think this could happen again in a million cows.”

According to Wikipedia, there are over 96 million head of cattle in the US alone, and about 1.3 billion head in the entire world… so even relatively rare and unusual markings have a pretty good chance of showing up.
Felton

Hah! Let’s all udder a little prayer.
Felton

Fortunately, my religious tolerance is exceeded only by my lactose tolerance.
Chrs

Well hey, she’s completely right! It couldn’t happen again in a million cows, but happily there are approximately 1.3 billion cows alive in the world today (Wikipedia is the best). If I had to guess, there’s probably a whole lot more turnover in the cow population than the human one, too, to boost the odds even more.
Oscar Bucher

Clearly a case of Bovine Intervention.
- Felton
  
  Haha!
muteboy

OK, the industry needs a miracle. How exactly will this random occurrence save you?
sleepylemur

Such progress in the past few thousand years of human development; Among the old school of animal sacrifice this lucky calf wouldn’t have had it’s first meal before being burned in offering to the invisible superheros in the sky.

Now we just sacrifice the animal’s anonymity, which it probably doesn’t mind.
Felton

Calf-olic or cattle-prodestant?
idjt

It’s… the moo-ssiah!
Seshan

Almost as bad as the women who found a x on a deformed chicken egg and called it a “Sign from above”
Phikus

My father breeds cattle professionally. One year a calf was born with the Nike “swish” on its head in perfect detail. He wrote to them and they were not interested in using the calf for an ad, saying it was too commonplace (and too easy to photoshop in, I’m sure.)
Felton

“Only the true Messiah denies his bovinity!”
Phikus

On second look, it was discovered that a bird had left the “marking”.
idjt

In a few years, it’ll be a papal bull, ?
seyo

That’s not a cross, it’s CLEARLY a Piaggio P180 Avanti II. Duh!!!
Gabriel Burt

> I’m in the breeding business and I know about reproduction and genetics and I don’t think this could happen again in a million cows

Considering there are 96 million cows in the US alone right now – with about a 1/3 turnover rate (32 million cows) per year, that is 2 2/3 holy cows per month, right?
Phikus

If you look for certain patterns in the random, you will eventually find them.

/miracle
Axx

I’m pretty sure that’s a dagger, not a cross. Those guys should be worried.
Pipenta

I don’t understand theists. They claim some invisible superhero made the world, and then they turn around and claim some weird little splotch on a calve’s head or a burn mark on a tortilla is a miracle.

So not impressed.
- Anonymous
  
  I don’t understand theists. They claim some invisible superhero made the world [snip]
  
  Uh, no, actually that’s not what theists claim. You’re confusing theists with Christians, or possibly Muslims, or something. Theists claim there is at least one extant divine being. Invisibility, superheroism, and responsibility for creation of the world are not universally agreed to be aspects of divinity.
  
  I’m betting this guy is Christian, ya know what I mean?
V

Sigh… Grew up ranching, and we had any number of cattle with random weird blazes on their faces.

“Look, it’s Florida!”

“Look, it’s a diamond!”

“Look, it’s Eleanor Roosevelt!”
Anonymous

“Well, I think it’s maybe a message from up above. I’m not sure. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

Yes, and the message is:
“You are all a bunch of idiots and I can’t believe I made you in my own image! Damn, I need a drink!”
Phoenicks

*Sigh* Oscar beat me to Bovine Intervention. Well that’s my day ruined.
Xanthippas

It’s no white buffalo.

http://whitebuffalomiracle.homestead.com/
mikesum32

Clearly this proves Prince is God.
Anonymous

Cow-God be praised! This little guy will probably have a nice long life! How could one possibly justify eating a holy cow? “This is the body of Christ, this is the blood of Christ, now feast upon the burger of Christ!”
Anonymous

I have a cat with an orange lightning bolt on her forehead. I wonder who that’s a message from.
jezebelserpent

God sure works in mysterious ways… not by ridding the world of hunger or war, but by giving cows cross shaped birth marks. What a miracle. *eye roll*
apoxia

“I’m in the breeding business and I know about reproduction and genetics”

Now correct me if I’m wrong guys, but I thought that markings were phenotypic features, e.g. a clone of a cat with (obviously) the same DNA will have different markings due to differences in the womb environment. If this is the case, I’m willing to believe that this guy doesn’t actually know that much about genetics apart from “mate big bull with cow to make bigger calves”.
benher

I bet its pee still tastes no better than its Hindi cousins.
dainel

Too bad Christians do not believe in reincarnating as animals.
Anonymous

“I think it’s divine intervention, personally. I’m in the breeding business and I know about reproduction and genetics and I don’t think this could happen again in a million cows.”

Not only is this person a bit daft, she’s also a liar who clearly knows nothing about genetics or else she would have heard of the “star gene”.

When humans domesticate animals, one trait we tend to select for is docility. One gene associated with docility is the “star gene”. Why’s it called that? Because it also affects coat color. In addition to other changes, it commonly results in a white star on the animal’s forehead.

So not only is this not a divine sign, it’s downright COMMON.
pKp

Charles Manson sure took his time to reincarnate.
- Boondocker
  
  You should probably do a search on Charles Manson, pKp. Reincarnation might be on his to-do list, but it’s not currently at the top.
arkizzle / Moderator

Very punny comments, indeed!
Boeotian

Man, I just loooove when people claim to know what they’re talking about, while proudly sustaining obvious mumbo jumbo like this one, believing that the sole fact that they said “oh I know what I’m talking about, I know about reproduction and genetics” makes them unquestionable.

Let us all praise how God works through mysterious randomness. If I was Him, I’d try to be a little bit more clear when trying to send a message.
- Gloria
  
  Usually when I hear somebody quantifying himself/herself by saying “I know what I’m talking about,” I immediately assume they don’t. Works pretty well.
Anonymous

Bow to the bovine!
Anonymous

I’m from that area of Connecticut, and I can tell you that many people there are undereducated and creepy religious. Every year, there are still fights over the patronage of shops which put ‘Happy Holidays’ on their windows and not ‘Merry Christmas’.
Boondocker

That’s just God’s brand. He’ll be accusing the farmer of rustlin’ His property now.
IWood

There is no little Jewish dude nailed to that cow’s head. Obviously fake.
- Chuck
  
  >There is no little Jewish dude nailed to that cow’s head. Obviously fake.
  
  Actually, there’s a patch on the calf’s belly that looks like a couple Roman soldiers dragging Christ toward that cross.
  
  I think it’s moving. Slowly.
eric schrepel

has nobody quipped “holy cow” yet? i feel dirty for having done so.
Sekino

Davis said, “Well, I think it’s maybe a message from up above. I’m not sure. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

Uuuh, yeeah… You let us know when you’ve ‘figured it out’ dude.
Santa’s Knee

Looks more like Texas…
mgfarrelly

Those steaks are going to be sacri-licious.

(Oh, I’m sorry little cow)
Anonymous

“Well, I think it’s maybe a message from up above. I’m not sure. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

Yeah… Get back to me when you do figure that out…
Antinous / Moderator

Meanwhile, in other animal facial marking meta-news…
- Felton
  
  I’d love to have a cat with that kind of facial marking, just so I can name him/her Godwin.
  
  To be fair, some of those cats look more like Charlie Chaplin, or maybe Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
JIMWICh

Calf with a cross on its forehead?

That’s nothing. I once saw a chicken with an upside-down pentagram on its forehead.

And it laid deviled eggs…
- Anonymous
  
  mmmm. . . . yummy deviled eggs . . .
Anonymous

“I’m in the breeding business and I know about reproduction and genetics and I don’t think this could happen again in a million cows.”

So, since there are 1.3 BILLION cows on the planet (wikipedia), approximately 1,300 of them would have this mark?

Doesn’t sound so miraculous afterall “Breeding business”-lady.
Glossolalia Black

If she were mine, I’d name her Mary Magdalene and move her to India.
Anonymous

Obligatory That Mitchell and Webb Look link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfqht0LEOWQ