Ross Butler

Ross Butler (1907–1995) was a farmer, photographer, songwriter, livestock judge, cattle and poultry breeder, pioneer of cattle artificial insemination, painter and sculptor of farm animals, as well as a writer. Early life Butler was born in 1907 in Norwich, Ontario, Canada. He was a descendant of United Empire Loyalist Colonel John Butler. Career Butler began his career as an artist in earnest in the 1920s with a few commissioned portraits and paintings of animals. Notability came in 1939 when Butler was commissioned by the education and agriculture ministries to create a series of pictures of farm animals to be placed in schools across Canada. The contract called for more than 500 "Standard Type" paintings of each breed of cattle, swine, horses, sheep, poultry and other Canadian livestock. Butler's unusual commission was big news. The story ran in newspapers around the world, including the National Enquirer.