Kiddicraft Brick Farm – Cows on the Pasture Building Set KC1104

Kiddicraft's Cows on the Pasture is built from 62 pieces — a pasture scene with two cows and a bird, plus fencing and greenery. Age 5+.

The bird is not decoration

A bird figure in a cattle set looks like a designer filling space. It is one of the most reliable sights in any field with livestock in it, and there is a mechanism behind it.

Cattle walking through grass disturb insects — flies, beetles, grasshoppers — which jump or fly up as the hooves come down. A bird following a cow eats considerably more than a bird working the same field alone, for no extra effort. Studies of cattle egrets have found they catch several times as much prey per step when they follow grazing animals.

In Europe the birds doing this are starlings, wagtails, jackdaws and gulls. Some go further and feed directly off the animal, taking ticks and flies from the hide — which the cattle tolerate, because the alternative is the ticks.

It is one of the oldest recorded partnerships in farming, and it predates farming: the same behaviour follows wild grazing herds everywhere they still exist.

Two cows and a fence

At 62 pieces this is a scene rather than a structure — something to put beside a barn, which is exactly what a pasture is. Sets KC1108 and KC1112 are the buildings it belongs next to.

In the Brick Farm range

Sets KC1101, KC1102, KC1103 and KC1105 are the other small animal scenes.

Specifications

Pieces: 62 · Two cows and a bird, fencing and greenery · Series: Kiddicraft Brick Farm · Age: 5+ · Compatible with leading brick systems