I grew up raising beef cattle on our ranch and can't recall any animal I ever encountered that could carry a tune, nor really appreciate the nuances of a good song. I also don't remember ever composing any songs celebrating one of them, though I was fond of a couple of my older animals (NO! Not THAT fond!).

That aside, the thread brings back an old argument from the coffee house days of the 1950's. When Jimmy Rodgers did "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," which I believe he gleaned from The Weavers, it was said, by the self-appointed guardians of folk purism, to have been based on an old Irish lament for a dead cow. Surely, someone out there knows the truth of this.