Grady the Cow

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Grady the Cow (c. 1943 - July, 1961) became famous for being the 1,200-pound cow stuck inside a storage silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma in 1949.

[edit] Story

On February 22, 1949, Bill and Alyne Mach's six-year-old Hereford cow, Grady, gave birth to a stillborn calf in a small shed next to a silo. Since she was having trouble with the birth, Mach called a veterinarian, D.L. Crump, to help. Dr. Crump tied Grady to a post so she would hold still. When he was finished taking care of her, he told Bill Mach to untie her. When Bill Mach untied her, she whirled around and started chasing him. He jumped on a pile of cottonseed sacks to escape.

The only light in the shed was from the small opening to the silo. Grady dove for the light in the opening. Mach and Dr. Crump looked toward the silo opening and saw a few red hairs clinging to the edge of the heavy steel silo door which was only 17 inches wide and 25 inches high. Grady was in the silo.

They couldn't tear down the silo as it was too valuable and the opening could not be made wider because it was encased in steel. Bill Mach asked for help through his local newspaper. The response was overwhelming. All over the United States, people were trying to find a solution to the problem. Phone calls, telegrams and letters all flowed in with suggestions. Curious people started showing up in cars and even planes. Grady was featured in Life Magazine, TIME Magazine and newspapers all over the country.

One person suggested tunneling under the silo. Another suggested bringing an attractive bull to the opening to lure her out. An Air Force officer said he knew of a helicopter that would lift 1,200 pounds but it was in San Marcos, Texas.

Three days after Grady's leap, Bill Mach got a call from Ralph Partridge, the farm editor of The Denver Post. He told Mach he was coming to Yukon to get Grady out of the silo.

Partridge supervised while a ramp was built from the floor of the silo to the door. The door edges were coated with axle grease. Grady was then outfitted with two heavy halters coated with axle grease. Dr. Crumb gave her tranquilizers to make her relax. While men outside the silo pulled on ropes attached to her halters, Partridge and J.O. Dicky Jr., a Yukon vocational agriculture teacher, pushed. Grady slid through the door with only a couple of scratches along her back.

Grady went on to become a mother several times, and she was such a tourist attraction that Mach put up a sign on Route 66 noting her home. He kept Grady in a special pen by the road.

Grady the Cow died in July 1961 and the old silo was torn down in 2001 to make way for a regional hospital.

Two children's books have been written describing and illustrating the story of Grady the Cow.

Alyne Mach passed away in the early hours of December 5, 2007, she was 87, Bill died in 1995.