By Janet Raloff
The scourge of udder tampering has not escaped the attention of humorist Dave Barry. In one of his columns, he laments unscrupulous dairy farmers who inject foreign udder-enhancing substances into their animals’ mammary glands in a desperate bid for a competitive edge at livestock shows. Barry likens these competitions to human beauty pageants, except that the cows get no credit at all for being smart or having nice personalities.
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Alas, udder fraud is no laughing matter to people who make their living raising and marketing Holsteins and other dairy breeds. Because grand champions and their progeny command a high price, “there’s a lot of money at stake,” notes David Kendall, executive secretary of the Brown Swiss Association in Beloit, Wis.