Oberweis Hits Airwaves Again

The Chicago Sun-Times’ man on the advertising beat, Lewis Lazare, reported Tuesday that Oberweis Dairy is about to start another round of television ads.

This one features a cow being interviewed by former U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis.

The nameplate of the person sitting next to him behind a desk in the photo the Sun-Times reads is Joe Oberweis.

So, where did the cow come from?

As luck would have it, McHenry County Blog has tracked down a herd of Holsteins where it might have originated.

It was not Harmilda, the plastic cow in Harvard, which bills itself as the Milk Capital of the World. . (The name Harmilda comes from Harvard Milk Days, I learned on the event’s web page.)

And its picture is probably not on the painting on the side of the building behind Hermelda at the corner of Ayer Street--which becomes the “Milky Way” early each June.

When I took office as McHenry County Treasurer in 1966, Shoppers Service was sending its shopper from Harvard every week. And every week at least one dairy farmer was holding an auction because he was going out of business.

So, the odds of the cow being from McHenry County are not high, although dairy farms do still exist.

I followed this cheese truck north to Wisconsin.

Actually, I was on another errand to Williams Bay and got lost trying to follow a detour in Walworth to Lake Geneva.

But guess what I found?

Part of a herd of cows that supply Oberweis Dairy hormone-free milk.

They were resting or peacefully grazing about as far from the highway as seemed possible.

And, believe it or not, the farmer was a Republican.

Just look at the yard signs out in front of his home.

I know the farmer's candidate for governor, Mark Green, fared no better than the man who buys his cow's milk.

Paul Ryan, candidate for Congress, got 63% of the votes cast.

His candidate for state senate, Neal Kedzie, won 2-1.

The Republican candidate for the state assembly. Thomas Lothian, had a closer call, getting under 54% of the vote.

First posted at McHenry County Blog.