Ross Butler

Who was Ross Butler?

Ross Butler 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 an author. He was a descendant of United Empire Loyalist Colonel John Butler.

Butler was born in Norwich, Ontario, Canada, and died at his 100-acre studio-art gallery-farm in Oxford County, south of Woodstock, on Highway #59. Today, the Butler studio-art gallery-farm is operated by his son, David Butler.

Ross 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.

Ross Butler, was known as "the world's leading livestock artist"¹. He created more than 500 works in his lifetime. His painting of the Springbank Snow Countess was the model for the Springbank Snow Countess monument located on Dundas Street East in Woodstock, Ontario. Another of his sculptures was at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1952. It was a life-size butter sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II and her horse, Winston, to commemorate her coronation.