Giant 200ft cow created by artists using 3,000 buckets of manure

A team of artists used bovine inspiration to create this 200ft outline of a cow on a hillside - using 3,000 buckets of manure.

The masterpiece in Somerset echoes famous chalk figures such as the Westbury White Horse and Cerne Abbas Giant.

It was commissioned to mark the 25th birthday of organic brand Yeo Valley, and sits in the shadow of their HQ in the Mendip Hills.

Sarah Mead, from Yeo Valley, said: "We made it using cow muck from the farm to get the message across - that organic farming works with, and not against the natural environment.

Mooove over Francis Bacon - it’s time for Cow-ravaggio (SWNS)

A team of 12 artists have spent a week on a hillside creating this 70 metre wide cow - made from manure (SWNS)

"Organic farming can help tackle climate change because healthy soil has the ability to store the excessive carbon from the atmosphere.

"The giant cow won't be here for long. Nature will have the last laugh, as ever. That's also part of the message. It's about putting nature first.

"We've been lucky enough to farm this land for 25 years, so it's a way of marking the occasion."

Artists Heather Jane Wallace, Rebecca Barnard and 10 others spent a week creating the outline near the village of Blagdon.

At 70 metres wide and 50 metres high, the giant 'moo-rul' compares to other well-known Westcountry works of art including the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset (55 metres high) and the Westbury White Horse in Wiltshire (55 metres high and 52 metres wide).

The artists gave themselves a pat on the back after shifting 3,000 buckets of cow poo to create the artistic hillside rendition (SWNS)

Artist Heahter Jane Wallace said it was exhausting carrying the poo up the steep hill (SWNS)

Heather Jane Wallace, who runs Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios in Wells, Somerset, alongside Rebecca Barnard, said:

"I'm a Somerset girl. My brother, nephew and grandfather are farmers so I really understand the message.

"When I grew up, farming was naturally organic.

"I remember when farmers were encouraged to spray their crops after the war to produce more and more food at lower prices.

"The result of this was the decline and disappearance of the countryside and wildlife.

"Organic farming is so important for wildlife, healthy soil and tackling climate change.

"It was very exhausting carrying the poo up the steep hill. We used great big household brooms to paint it into the grass.

"It was a challenge getting the scale right - from a distance we quickly realised that you can only make out great big shapes and not details like eyelashes."