Farmer dowses partially bald cow with factor 50 suncream

A cow which suffers from a skin condition causing partial baldness is being dowsed in factor 50 sun cream twice a day to prevent sunburn. Harriet the heifer was born premature and as a result was left with a condition which leaves large areas of her head and torso bald. Keepers at Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard, Somerset, have been lathering the one-year-old cow with sun cream twice daily.

They have issued a desperate plea for donations after going through a bottle of factor 50 every two days to keep the beast protected from the sun. Animal manager Naomi Clarke said: ”Harriet really suffers in the sun due to her condition and we’re doing all we can to protect her.

”But it’s costing us a fortune, we’re plastering lotion on her first thing in the morning and mid afternoon to protect her from the mid-day sun. We’re hoping her skin condition will have cleared up by next year but in the meantime we are desperately in need of any left over sun cream from people’s holidays.”

Harriet was donated to the farm in June after she was bullied by cows at her previous farm because of her skin condition. Since then, keepers have forked out on over 30 bottles of sun cream in a bid to protect her during the blistering summer. Naomi added: ”We think she was probably bullied because she was born premature but we have a lot of misfits here so she fits right in.”