NZ On Screen Raises The Steaks With The Launch Of The Cow Collection

Cats and dogs, sheep, birds, and horses have all had a collection named in their honour on NZ On Screen, but now it’s time for them to moove over...The Cow Collection has arrived!

Herding more than 30 titles, The Cow Collection showcases the humble bovine from many angles, across factual and fictional content. In the backgrounder, journalist Baz McDonald reflects on whether the nostalgic idea of the beloved family cow tells the whole story of the animal’s current role in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Cattle are a key part of New Zealand life and its economy, with dairy cow numbers now roughly equalling the human population of the country. The Cow Collection contains a selection of content that showcases the pros and cons of the dairy and beef industry in Aotearoa. In a 2008 episode of Homegrown, Te Radar looks at the ins and outs of the dairy industry. Baz McDonald turns investigator in the 2021 TVNZ web series Milk & Money, taking an updated look at the impact of intensive dairy farming on cows, and the environment. There are three episodes of Country Calendar that shine a spotlight on dairy farming in New Zealand: there’s a 1977 day-in-the-life in Jersey Cow, we learn about organic dairy farming in Grass is Greener, and Cow World looks at the early introduction of an American-style ‘high production’ dairy operation, alongside a petting zoo for tourists. 

There are plenty of kids titles included to capture the imagination. Let’s Get Inventin’ offers a unique way to get cows fed, with the team tasked to create a motorised hay bale launcher — while on The Goober Brothers, a crazy contraption which allows you to drink directly from a cow’s udder is introduced. The Posy Narker duo get their hands dirty in the milking shed as they learn about life on the farm. For a more factual take, there are award-winning calves at the Rai Valley A&P show in an episode of Fanimals, and in Suzy’s World, Suzy Cato takes a closer look at how cows convert their food to milk.

Classsic commercials also feature. Til the Cows Come Home, a popular 1981 campaign from New Zealand’s Milk Promotion Council, follows ‘the girls’ as they pontificate on the appeal of their milk while Murray escorts them to the milking shed. Dairylea cheese gets the cows (and one bull) grooving in a song and dance number from 1991, and a fly becomes a mooving target after a couple of cows get their hooves on a can of V Energy drink.

But no bull, that’s not all! We’re milking it for all it’s worth with short films, news items, animations and more. Click here for the full list of titles.

NZ On Screen is New Zealand’s screen-culture showcase, with more than 4,500 free-to-view titles from the beginning of the screen industry to the present day. Find us at www.nzonscreen.com.

© Scoop Media