Canadian cow produces most milk ever

OTTAWA: A Holstein cow named Smurf from a farm just east of Canada's capital has set a new world record for the most milk produced in a lifetime -- a whopping 216,891 kg (478,163 pounds) over 15 years.

And she's still producing.

"That's the equivalent of more than one million glasses of milk," said Smurf's owner Eric Patenaude, a sixth generation Canadian dairy farmer.

Guinness World Records confirmed the record to AFP on Monday. It previously belonged to a cow in the US state of Michigan.

The average dairy cow yields about 35,000 kilograms (33,981 liters) of milk in a lifetime, or less than 50 liters per day. Smurf produces approximately the same daily amount, but has lived three times longer than most dairy cows.

It's her "longevity and consistency" that won her the prize, which also earned Smurf "Udder Accolades" from a local newspaper, said Patenaude. "That's how she's produced so much milk."

It also helps that she's got good genes: Smurf's father was a stud named Emperor from Wisconsin and her mother, Murphy, was also a "good milker," said a herder at La Ferme Gillette in Embrun, Ontario.

Smurf turns 16 in September and is expecting her eleventh calf in the coming weeks. So far she has only had one female offspring to continue on the milk-making tradition. (AFP)