A Pasture Called Brooklyn

New York Times -

'It's been a long time since cows dotted the Brooklyn landscape. But one corner of the borough is still famous for a bovine resident, and I'm not referring to the Brooklyn Museum gallery where the artist Damien Hirst famously displayed parts of cattle in 1999.

This is the Prospect Park Zoo, home to Aggie, a Dexter cow who is happily all in one piece and the star of Extraordinary Dairy Weekend, tomorrow and Sunday. Visiting city children can get a feel for rural life by learning how to milk. They won't experiment on Aggie but on Daisy milkers, wooden cows that are filled with water and quite cooperative.

Real cream, though, will be used to churn butter according to a method any New York kitchen could accommodate. "You put heavy cream into a Tupperware container and shake it for three verses of 'Old MacDonald,' " said Corey Finjer, a zoo spokeswoman. (Crackers will be provided for tasting.)

Further attractions include a cow wash (Aggie's bath is at 3 p.m., weather permitting), other animal encounters, crafts, wildlife-theme shows and barnyard races, including one approximating a not-so-glamorous rite of farming.

"The favorite year after year is Scoop the Poop," Ms. Finjer said. "There's a lot of hay, with fake cow patties in it, and the kids all get rakes and shovels." Prizes go to those who fill buckets the fastest. And no one complains that the experience just isn't real enough.

Extraordinary Dairy Weekend, tomorrow and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Prospect Park Zoo, 450 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, (718) 399-7339. Admission: $6; ages 65+, $2.25; 3 to 12, $2; under 3, free.'