Udderly brilliant! Cows are fitted with woolly BRAS in the world’s coldest village as temperatures drop to -45C in Siberia
- Video footage shows cows wearing fur or wool-lined bras as temperatures drop
- Cows are fitted with the triangular bras in Oymyakon, Russian region of Yakutia
- Bras help protect tender skin on the udder and saves two litres of milk per cow
A remarkable video shows how cows in the world’s coldest village wear fur or wool-lined bras when thermometers plunge in the Siberian winter.
Local farmer Nikolay Atlasov – in his 70s – fits the handmade protection as the seasonal temperature plunge begins.
He fitted the triangular bras to his hardy herd of five cows as the village of Oymyakon, in the Russian region of Yakutia, hit minus 45C.
Cows in the world’s coldest village of Oymyakon, in the Russian region of Yakutia, wear fur or wool-lined bras when thermometers plunge to minus 45C in the Siberian winter
Local farmer Nikolay Atlasov – in his 70s – fits the handmade protection as the blistering seasonal temperature plunge begins in earnest
The bra helps protect tender skin on the udder and saves up to two litres of milk per cow, say locals
The lowest officially recorded temperature in the village of Oymyakon was minus 67.7 °C (minus 89.9 °F) in 1933, but locals say an earlier reading was minus 71.2 °C (minus 96.2 °F) in January 1924
Each time they go out to their watering hole this winter – which is likely to go below minus 60C – the cows will be dressed in their Siberian bras.
‘This is how Yakut cows spend their winters – our breadwinners,’ said local resident Semyon Sivtsev, who filmed the seasonal routine.
‘They wait in the queue, the eldest drink first.’
Locals say the bras are made of sheepskin or hare fur, usually old hoods from coats that are redeployed for this vital winter task.
They are tied with long straps, two around the body, and one under the tail.
The bra helps protect tender skin on the udder and saves up to two litres of milk per cow, say locals.
Each time they go out to their watering hole this winter – which is likely to go below minus 60C – the cows are dressed in their Siberian bras
Locals say the bras are made of sheepskin or hare fur, usually old hoods from coats that are redeployed for this vital winter task
The village claims to be the coldest permanently inhabited village on the planet, and is known as the Pole of Cold. Pictured: Cows playing in the snow in Oymyakon
‘The main thing is to keep the animal warm,’ Semyon said. ‘Cows are dressed when the temperature falls to minus 30C or minus 35C.
‘They don’t wear any other clothes – just a bra.’
Nikolay is a former gold mining prospector and engineer who now had a smallholding in Oymyakon.
The lowest officially recorded temperature here was minus 67.7 °C (minus 89.9 °F) in 1933, but locals say an earlier reading was minus 71.2 °C (minus 96.2 °F) in January 1924.
The village claims to be the coldest permanently inhabited village on the planet, and is known as the Pole of Cold.