Today’s family nature walk and the annual cow pie contest were a great success, with over $1000 raised to help get the cows through the winter. The day kicked off with a family hike in which Laurie Bourdon and Chris Molinaro gave a guided tour of the conservation land and drew attention to the land’s features and a little bit of Southborough and Breakneck Hill Cow Fund history.

Laurie Bourdon kicks off the nature walk.

Chris Molinaro told walkers about the history of beekeeping on Breakneck Hill Road dating back to the days of Ray Davis.

Mt. Wachusett can be seen from the high point of the conservation land.

A variety of baked treats were available for purchase with proceeds going to the Cow Fund.

Accompanied by a wingman (wingcalf?), one our cows looks for the perfect square...

A minor false start resulted in the first cow pie falling on one of the few unclaimed squares. Fortunately, cows being cows, we didn’t have to wait too long for a second cow pie. As a result, Gary Strickland was this year’s lucky winner.

We have a winner!

Today was a great success, and we thank all who attended and who donated to the cow fund. Additional coverage is on the SouthboroughNews web site, and we expect the Villager to run a story as well. If you missed it and would like to make a donation, the Paypal link to the right is a quick way to donate. Information about making donations by mail is on the Donate page.

Sunday’s Fun Run and Cow Bingo events were both big successes. The runners were sent off to the races with an old-fashioned musket blast.


Various goodies, t-shirts and squares for cow bingo were being marketed by dedicated cow fund volunteers…



Chris Molinaro outran a herd of hungry cows competing for the dedicated role of official cow of “Cow Pie Bingo”.



It’s a sprint to the finish line! (Names of winners will be added to the post shortly…)



Meanwhile, the designated First Cow of Cow Pie Bingo was making her choice.



And we have a winner! Actually, four winners. Against all odds, the cow pie landed on the intersection of four squares. Olympic archers are not so accurate. Those of you with delicate sensibilities may want to avert your eyes now (then again, if you have delicate sensibilities why are you reading a post about cow pie bingo?), but here’s the winning “pie”.

The Breakneck Hill Cow Fund is once again sponsoring a Family Fun Run & Walk. It will be held November 1, 2009 at 10 am on the Breakneck Hill Conservation land. Registration for the 4K race is $10.

We will also be sponsoring a “Cow Pie” contest. Put $20 toward a square and if one of the cows “favors” your square, you could win $300. For more information email Joyceg1@yahoo.com or lpbourdon@aol.com.