Texas makes cow sculpture butter

The necessary unsalted butter is not produced in Ohio, a spokeswoman said.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohioans might be surprised to learn that the Ohio State Fair's famous butter cow is an out-of-towner.
The ton of butter used to make the cow sculpture has come from Keller's Creamery in Winnsboro, Texas, for the past five years. That might be hard to stomach for Ohio State University football fans still hurting from the Texas game last fall, a 25-22 defeat that helped kill their hopes for a national title.
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Butter sculptures must be made with unsalted butter, because it's easier to smooth without the salt granules, said Kim Haines, who is coordinating this year's Ohio sculpture for the American Dairy Association.
"We would love to be able to get the butter from Ohio, but it just isn't produced here," she said.
The Land O'Lakes plant in Kent is the only big butter producer in the state, and it doesn't make the unsalted variety, company spokeswoman Lydia Botham said.
The Texas creamery gets its milk from all over the country, so the cow might be part Ohioan. Most of Ohio's milk is bottled or used to produce cheese and yogurt, said Tim Demland of the Ohio Dairy Producers Association.
Longhorn or not, fair general manager Virgil Strickler said he's sticking with butter for the sculpture.
"In Ohio, we're No. 1 in Swiss cheese production, but I don't think it would look real good if we had a holey cow instead of butter," he said.
The fair runs Aug. 2-13 at the Ohio Expo Center.