Written By: Ben Cosgrove
In 1954, LIFE photographer Nat Farbman made a series of pictures of some enterprising (and entertaining) felines on Art Badertscher’s dairy farm near Fresno, Calif. It seems that one of Badertscher’s cats, Squirrley, rose up on her hind legs one day for a squirt of milk right from a cow’s udder and ever since, the farmer had been training all of the farm’s cats to do the same.
In Farbman’s most famous picture of the critters—the shot above that has been reproduced countless times through the years—Brownie (Squirrley’s son) makes a perfect catch while Blackie, a stray that “just wandered in one day and joined the act,” waits his turn.
Brownie drank milk straight from the cow as Blackie waited his turn at a dairy farm in Fresno, Calif., in 1953.
Nat Farbman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Cats begged for squirts of milk during milking at Arch Badertscher’s dairy farm.
Nat Farbman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Cats enjoyed squirts of milk at Arch Badertscher’s dairy farm.
Nat Farbman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
