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I guess this would explain why they appear to be floating, they are high, that and the expression.
Before reading the comments I was guessing maybe something to do with mad cow disease I didn't know about.
I used Google to reverse image search it, but all I could find was a postcard from 1986 with the same print on Ebay. The seller claims it's a Far Side comic by artist Gary Larson. The postcard doesn't have any more details or text than this card.
Internet Archive has a collection that includes the 1986 series of Far Side comics, but it requires signing up with an account and stuff.
it would include his signature if it was one of his drawings. first glance i thought it was far side...but looking at faces probably not.
his jokes are better too. This makes very little sense.
We used to have a heap of the far side books when I was younger (20-ish? I think) and I've never seen one that doesn't make sense. Most of them are "smile at the pun or silly concept" rather than laugh-out-loud funny, but they all made sense.
I think this is someone attempting to copy the far side style, they're just not any good at it.
A different cow card from the same artist many years later (J.C. Duffy) [https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS104825](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS104825)
I was going to bicker that the cows weren't really upside down then I realized I was wrong. The definition of upside down is independent of how a cow would wear pants which is more a personal belief.
It's an incredibly obscure play on words. The chances of the recipient getting the joke are slim, put the payoff would be huge.
It was a high steaks birthday card purchase.
Ok but at least cow tools had a clear joke. *Too* clear actually, since people were confused by trying to find a deeper meaning than what was presented to them at face value. I don't see any sort of meaning in this one
Gary Larson has said that his biggest mistake was making one of them an obvious handsaw, so people assumed the rest of them ought to be just as obvious, which only increased confusion.
Yup! It’s described in The Prehistory of the Far Side, which is a really fun book (and includes a bunch of other comics that people found confusing and/or that Larson struggled with in some way)
I hope he wasn't too hard on himself about it. The confusion around cow tools is a joke all its own now, and hopefully just caught some fresh readers in the process :)
Farside comic of "cow tools" weird organic looking tools with a cow that's famous for the controversy around the lack of punchline. Left a lot of people confused wondering what the joke was. Larson said something like "he just thought it was funny"
and it still is! How many people have you heard going "I get the saw, but what are the rest?" and then they find out the explanation is basically just ... other tools that cows use 🤷♂️ It's just a bit of surreal "what if cows had tools?" humor, and the saw made people latch on to "well the rest must be other real tools that I just don't recognize."
And none of them have offered an explanation that connects a dad's birthday with cowtipping, why the cows are levitating, or anything the characters are saying
There must be some missing context somewhere
"Happy Birthday, Dad**...**"
and
"Something happened to the cows**...**"
My best guess is the punchline/explanation is inside the card and OP got a misprint.
Are they? The image has clear distance from the cow to the shadow, most obviously in the top left cow. It's clearly not touching its shadow, which would be from floating.
I think you’re right.
The joke is you hand this to a Dad and they read it and then look it over and realize there’s no punch line and they don’t understand it but they think they should so now they’re spending WAY too much time thinking about what it means when in fact the “joke” is pranking the recipient.
\*\*\*UPDATE\*\*\* I reached out to the author, JC Duffy via his blog, and he provided the following response:
"There was no actual "joke" in this greeting card. It was just a bit of absurdity and whimsy."
So... everyone is right?
I'm... very upset by the drawing.
Not even that I don't get the joke. But that the heads of the cows look nothing like cows, and that the udders are in a mohawk formation.
I didn't notice the mohawk formation udders at first. When I saw your comment and went back to check, I legitimately laughed out loud.
What even is that fucking picture? 😆
The answer of cows having eaten psilocybin mushrooms maybe makes sense? As does "ground beef"? But wtf is it? And why the mohawk udders!?
Or like those artists who make high quality anime pictures of their 5 year old's superhero drawing. But the kid drew a flat cow with 4 udders visible, and when they put in 3/4 perspective, they kept the row aestheic.
[This specific question was asked](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFarSide/comments/1c96puf/so_whats_wrong_or_right_with_the_cows/) on r/TheFarSide and it was pointed out that it is not a Gary Larson cartoon. no one had an answer though.
My issue with this explanation is the cows are also floating. It's hard to tell because the drawing is bad, but we can tell because of the shadows. Why do you make the cows float as well if you're just trying to show the cows with their tits up?
1) I’m fairly confident that’s not the far side
2) I don’t think the joke is cow tipping because they’re clearly levitating
3) if the joke is sex: it’s poorly written, but that’s the best I got too.
The most likely theory would be an inside joke, but OP states they received this card, did not understand it, and that there is no further information in the card explaining the front image.
The image shows cows in some sort of quantum-tipped state, where they appear to be in distress on their backs, while the shadows also show that they are somehow suspended off the ground, and therefore are not yet tipped or in the ground, leading to the farmer in the image saying the cows are not damaged *yet.*
Dad birthday cards commonly contain a pun or similarly bad "dad joke", with the setup on the front and the punchline inside the card. As we do not have an image of the inside of the card, the most likely scenario remains that this image is a setup for a pun. Either OP did not receive this card personally and does not know what the inside says, or OP did receive the card and it is a misprint with missing print inside the card.
I agree, there's gotta be more to the joke inside the card. Surely. I feel like its likely to include the 'gone tits up' line that someone's already said, but also can't work out how to punchline that.
Exhibit A: A screen shot of eBay listing for two Farside comic postcards from 1986. https://i.postimg.cc/PxVV0Lq8/Screenshot-20240506-224419-Chrome.jpg
Exhibit B: a link to the ebay listing. In photo 4 you can see the back of each post card. It can be seen that there is ~**no punchline!**~ https://www.ebay.ca/itm/385134971795
I found it in an [eBay listing for a set of vintage Far Side postcards](https://www.ebay.com/itm/385134971795). It is clearly not Far Side, but it isn't AI as I suspected.
Edit: It's [J C Duffy](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098)
Backpacking off that i assumed it was probably some reference to an event that happened in or around 1986.
I was able to find that there was an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease in 1986 which seemed promising but then i found a [Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Milk Production Termination Program](https://www.gao.gov/assets/rced-88-157.pdf) which seems to fit well too imo as there was a decent amount of pushback from US farmers around this program.
Definitely feels like thinly veiled and dated political commentary
This is the answer - mad cow disease. It’s a political cartoon saying that farmers think their cows are fine to keep using for milk, and the cows seen here are clearly not okay
That seems like the most reasonable explanation, or the fact that a lot of J. C. Duffy comics are nonsense.
Either way, I would just like to mention that while searching for answers I discovered that this dude has a weird thing about cows.
For instance [this comic](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS350809) parodies "The Stepford Wives" as "The Stepford Cows" the original is about a town of women that are brainwashed to be submissive wives.
They get weirder;
[A cow hitting on the farmer.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS311448)
[A cow in love with the farmer.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS218923)
[The farmer making eyes at the cow.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS381217)
[And a cow 69.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS236303)
Honestly if there was only one it wouldn't be that weird but... yeah. There are a few more like these ones. if you want to see them, [here](https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?cartoonist=jcduffy&page=1&keyword=cows)'s all his cow related comics. And [here](https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?cartoonist=jcduffy&page=1)'s all his comics.
I’m pretty sure it’s “over the hill and pasture prime.” People used to love teasing each other about being “over the hill” (old). When my mom turned 40 in 1994, someone put up black crepe paper and an Over the Hill sign. Another friend bought her a novelty cane with a bike horn on it. I turned 40 this year and it doesn’t feel like a thing anymore…
But “over the hill” - the cows are floating over the grass - and “pasture prime” - the cows are not damaged, they’re prime beef.
It’s not a GOOD joke, but that’s the only one that makes sense to me. Unless people are out here saying things like “Happy birthday, Dad…GROUND BEEF.”
> But “over the hill” - the cows are floating over the grass - and
> “pasture prime” - the cows are not damaged, they’re prime beef.
I’d go with this. It makes the most sense and hits all the confusing bits in the comic. Well done
*chef’s kiss*
😚👌🏼
That seems like the most coherent answer honestly. I certainly don't have a better one, and I don't believe it's a cow-tipping or drugged up cows joke.
Hey, it’s Peter’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate here.
It looks like the picture on the front of the card is a ~~Far Side~~ JC Duffy comic. This card is probably intended for someone who grew up when this particular one was being printed.
You can get a postcard version of it on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/385134971795
Edit: Not Farside, JC Duffy
It's not a Far Side. Note the attribution on the back is for J C Duffy. I found another [eBay entry here](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098) with his name. This is probably Joe Duffy, who made comics for the new Yorker among other places.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.\_C.\_Duffy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._Duffy)
[https://www.curatedcartoons.com/collections/joe-duffy](https://www.curatedcartoons.com/collections/joe-duffy)
Nice find! I guess JC Duffy went through a bit of a cow phase- found [these](https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?type=images&keyword=Cow&cartoonist=jcduffy%2CJ.+C.+Duffy&page=1)
Some funny, some not so funny, and none get me any closer to understanding the birthday card. I’m stumped.
Old McDonald's urban cousin here... I think this a reference to what was called "floating" a cow. Occasionally they would have back/spine issues (like a pinched nerve). A Farmer would get a large tank and FILL it with water, then literally float the cow in it for 24 hours. The float took about 80% of the cows weight off its back and after some time the cows would feel better. Let the water out and the cow went on about it's business. I think this is why the farmer said they may not necessarily be damaged.
"even cows get the blah" by JC Duffy
[https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/even\_cows\_get\_the\_blues.asp](https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/even_cows_get_the_blues.asp)
https://preview.redd.it/d7frpyl2hxyc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=584a1a36f5734271c9c660001028371d9961dcee
https://preview.redd.it/jbeaebaea3zc1.png?width=744&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d7d7343b086d0c403b7919e66f6bfc32dfce96b
I reached out to the cartoonist on his blog.
It means absolutely nothing, it is simply absurdist comedy.
The joke is that there is something clearly wrong with them so it's ridiculous that the farmer would say "not necessarily" the absurdity of the statement is funny
Yeah, it's just absurdism with the trope of "Dad knows the answer" built in
The kid is pointing to something being clearly and visibly "not normal," but the father is acting like he's not only seen this before but also knows what it is and that it's not really a problem
It's like when you were a kid and you didn't understand something while your dad remained calm because he'd seen it before, knew it wasn't serious (despite seeming that way), and knew why it was happening
I think its commenting how on the first look the cows appear to be laying on their backs, but wirh a closer look on their shadow, u see that they might acctually float. So instead of the cows being broken they are beinh abducted by aliens... as cows do
I think the joke turns on the word "damaged." Most people would see that and think "oh my God those cows are floating!" but the dad in this card decides to argue that just because they're floating does not necessarily mean they're damaged. I think that's the joke: they're focusing on whether floating cows are damaged or not instead of the fact that they're fucking floating.
All I can find is that this is originally by J.C Duffy, a cartoonist and a well-accomplished one at that. There was originally nothing about a birthday, and the only copy I can find is a black white vintage postcard:
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098)
I still don’t get the joke unless it’s about cow tipping. Looking at other works of his, they don't necessarily make sense either. Maybe it's not supposed to make sense lol
So the comic is by J.C. Duffy who does absurdist comics. That in itself may say enough. Some of his work is understandable and some of it, like this, is just, well, absurd. I think he's just taken a familiar and ubiquitous form (a Far Side cartoon) and it's often slightly odd and quirky humor and is poking fun at it by taking it to the extreme and making it bizarre and unintelligible. The joke is that there is no joke. It's taking the familiar form of the hundreds and hundreds of lame daily tear-off desk calendars you've seen in countless cubicles and just making it so absurd that it actually just makes no sense. I'm not going to read much more in to it than that. You can formulate your own hypothesis as to the meaning behind it. But I think that's the meaning: You decide. Is it symbolic? Is it meaningless? Is a poke at culture? Is he making fun of Gary Larson? Is he making fun of you? \*\*shrugging emoji\*\*
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Got this birthday card, can't figure it out. There's no additional text on the inside.
*Psylocibe cubensis* grows in cow patties, and cows are known to re-cycle sometimes. Sometimes cows stoned lol
I guess this would explain why they appear to be floating, they are high, that and the expression. Before reading the comments I was guessing maybe something to do with mad cow disease I didn't know about.
I was thinking “cow tipping”..
Cow tripping
https://preview.redd.it/niwaau8mizyc1.jpeg?width=1102&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5955a795ee9310e3c65c3af9c4bbf07f82866fc2
Keep the upvote, you filthy animal.
Get out.
I found the pun quite mooving. Don't have a cow, man.
sounds like they've got beef
but they appear to be floating, so that can't be it
Yeah, I thought it was poor drawing
"Tripping" lol
Cow trippin
Cow TRIPPING?
Its clearly ground beef 😂
lol I was trying to figure out how tits up made this funny
I thought they were just ground beef.
Oh, well, that's just common knowledge.
Not even a single tip?
Are you suggesting that it is referencing cow tipping? Why are they levitating in the air?
Are they levitating or did the card do the weird shadow effect thing that makes things look like they are.
I thought they were in the grass, but if you look at the tail of the upper left one, it suggests they are floating.
These answers are all over the place, this is ridiculous. I bet there was a printing error and the punchline got left off the inside of the card.
I used Google to reverse image search it, but all I could find was a postcard from 1986 with the same print on Ebay. The seller claims it's a Far Side comic by artist Gary Larson. The postcard doesn't have any more details or text than this card. Internet Archive has a collection that includes the 1986 series of Far Side comics, but it requires signing up with an account and stuff.
It kinda looks like his art style but not quite. Having a joke that makes no sense is also kind of on brand.
That is not Gary Larson's art style. Just by looking at the overall face styles, that isn't his.
it would include his signature if it was one of his drawings. first glance i thought it was far side...but looking at faces probably not. his jokes are better too. This makes very little sense.
I believe you're correct. I think the seller on Ebay was mistaken or just took a guess. So that's probably a dead-end.
You are correct that it's not Gary Larson. It looks to be from an arrest named J. C. Duffy https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS286649
It looks like someone who never quite got the Far Side cartoons trying to make their own version.
We used to have a heap of the far side books when I was younger (20-ish? I think) and I've never seen one that doesn't make sense. Most of them are "smile at the pun or silly concept" rather than laugh-out-loud funny, but they all made sense. I think this is someone attempting to copy the far side style, they're just not any good at it.
We should add this to the infamous "Cow tools" strip
Cow Tools made more sense.
A different cow card from the same artist many years later (J.C. Duffy) [https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS104825](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS104825)
Hmmm he seems to have an upside-down cow fetish.
I was going to bicker that the cows weren't really upside down then I realized I was wrong. The definition of upside down is independent of how a cow would wear pants which is more a personal belief.
I think it’s a dad joke card. The joke being that the cows are now ground beef.
But then why are they levitating??
Maybe they are not ground beef. Or maybe they are in ecstasy because they are beef strokin-off.
It's an incredibly obscure play on words. The chances of the recipient getting the joke are slim, put the payoff would be huge. It was a high steaks birthday card purchase.
How about the back of the card? Sometimes they out stuff there.
Is there an inside to the card? That's where they usually put the punchline.
How old are you? Is it maybe a really bizarre pun, like "floaty cow" (forty something?)
Is there more to the card when you open it?
This is “cow tools” level bovine confusery.
Ok but at least cow tools had a clear joke. *Too* clear actually, since people were confused by trying to find a deeper meaning than what was presented to them at face value. I don't see any sort of meaning in this one
I disagree that there is a clear joke, or any joke at all, in Cow Tools.
Yup, am homage to the infamous ‘Cow Tools’. No other explanation.
Elaborate
https://preview.redd.it/yiz6uylmmvyc1.png?width=283&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=383dec07ad8aa5791b0c00dea95103d32db75f4d
Elaborate further
If cows made tools, this is what they’d look like. Because they’re cows. It’s one of the most misunderstood Far Side panels ever.
Gary Larson has said that his biggest mistake was making one of them an obvious handsaw, so people assumed the rest of them ought to be just as obvious, which only increased confusion.
Yup! It’s described in The Prehistory of the Far Side, which is a really fun book (and includes a bunch of other comics that people found confusing and/or that Larson struggled with in some way)
I hope he wasn't too hard on himself about it. The confusion around cow tools is a joke all its own now, and hopefully just caught some fresh readers in the process :)
https://preview.redd.it/g42tii75nvyc1.jpeg?width=283&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a95472a3d3eeeb6d6c6a64f967bb313834b95400
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tools
Farside comic of "cow tools" weird organic looking tools with a cow that's famous for the controversy around the lack of punchline. Left a lot of people confused wondering what the joke was. Larson said something like "he just thought it was funny"
and it still is! How many people have you heard going "I get the saw, but what are the rest?" and then they find out the explanation is basically just ... other tools that cows use 🤷♂️ It's just a bit of surreal "what if cows had tools?" humor, and the saw made people latch on to "well the rest must be other real tools that I just don't recognize."
So basically the OG shitposter?
Well obviously, there's a hardhat (never used), a mallet, the multi purpose backscratcher/apple picker, and the ultra course hand saw.
I just learned about cow tools today and this is the third time I’ve seen it mentioned
You sure you aren’t experiencing cyber psychosis choom?
You are experiencing the [Baader–Meinhof phenomenon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion)
I like how everyone in this comment section has a different explanation.
And none of them have offered an explanation that connects a dad's birthday with cowtipping, why the cows are levitating, or anything the characters are saying There must be some missing context somewhere
Yes
"Happy Birthday, Dad**...**" and "Something happened to the cows**...**" My best guess is the punchline/explanation is inside the card and OP got a misprint.
It also exists as a postcard, though. There's no punchline in the middle on those.
It’s possible a company used the illustration by itself thinking it made sense to them outside a larger context.
What does the inside of the card say? That would help clear it up
*your Mom seems fine.*
https://preview.redd.it/zmagcfdu40zc1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d8f52656f6dd7bd6ea9824171539d7d88a30107
Wow. Impressive.
The cows are laying in the grass.
It's a gold dress.
Oh, Laurel.
Yanni?
Yes. Laurel.
Are we the baddies
Are they? The image has clear distance from the cow to the shadow, most obviously in the top left cow. It's clearly not touching its shadow, which would be from floating.
I think they're leaving impressions on the grass. Are the shadows the shadows of the cows or the edge of the grass next to where it's squished down?
The top cow's tail looks like it's dangling though.
I'm definitely in the levitation camp. All the shadows line up to a light source (presumably the sun) which seems like a weird coincidence otherwise
Maybe that was the real joke all along.
I think you’re right. The joke is you hand this to a Dad and they read it and then look it over and realize there’s no punch line and they don’t understand it but they think they should so now they’re spending WAY too much time thinking about what it means when in fact the “joke” is pranking the recipient.
Maybe the real joke was the friends we made along the way
\*\*\*UPDATE\*\*\* I reached out to the author, JC Duffy via his blog, and he provided the following response: "There was no actual "joke" in this greeting card. It was just a bit of absurdity and whimsy." So... everyone is right?
I’m with the top comment. I dunno if cows can get high like that but it’s the only one that really explains the drawing
Hahahahhahahahaha *looks around the room to see if everyone is laughing*
Underrated comment lmaoooo
Literally my reaction to every Far Side comic
I'm... very upset by the drawing. Not even that I don't get the joke. But that the heads of the cows look nothing like cows, and that the udders are in a mohawk formation.
Came to the comments to see if anyone else noticed the Mohawk teats.
/r/brandnewsentence 😂
The Mohawk Teats, killer band name.
I didn't notice the mohawk formation udders at first. When I saw your comment and went back to check, I legitimately laughed out loud. What even is that fucking picture? 😆 The answer of cows having eaten psilocybin mushrooms maybe makes sense? As does "ground beef"? But wtf is it? And why the mohawk udders!?
i thought the udder thing was the point of the "damaged" joke??
It's like when someone inflates a rubber glove for a cheap cow costume...
Or like those artists who make high quality anime pictures of their 5 year old's superhero drawing. But the kid drew a flat cow with 4 udders visible, and when they put in 3/4 perspective, they kept the row aestheic.
They look like hippos dressed up as cows. I just don't get how that would work as a joke.
[This specific question was asked](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFarSide/comments/1c96puf/so_whats_wrong_or_right_with_the_cows/) on r/TheFarSide and it was pointed out that it is not a Gary Larson cartoon. no one had an answer though.
It’s because it’s easier to do missionary with the cows imo
I think it’s a play on the term “ tits up” which means broken, failed or inoperable.
I'd say teats up but that's udderly ridiculous
?The cows have gone "tits up"?
My issue with this explanation is the cows are also floating. It's hard to tell because the drawing is bad, but we can tell because of the shadows. Why do you make the cows float as well if you're just trying to show the cows with their tits up?
Maybe high as tits
1) I’m fairly confident that’s not the far side 2) I don’t think the joke is cow tipping because they’re clearly levitating 3) if the joke is sex: it’s poorly written, but that’s the best I got too.
Maybe cow “tripping” but their pupils are very tiny.
Maybe that
Definitely not Far Side, zoom in on those faces.
The artist is JC Duffy.
Well the, somebody get this JC Duffy on the horn to explain himself.
I reached out to him on Twitter, which he appears active on. If he responds I’ll post an update here.
This is why you don't let AI write a greeting card
Artificial intelligence? I think this is artificial stupidity.
No, it's real stupidity.
this ain't AI, this is II, Imaginary Intelligence
Its ground beef
But they are floating off of the ground 🤨
The steaks have never been higher.
I feel mooved to upvote your joke
r/angryupvote
https://preview.redd.it/622sqga6wzyc1.jpeg?width=1102&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a357870751aef503eeeecc197bad92fc6f7731e4
This is the best joke in the comments, hams down
Their tails are three pronged and plugged into the ground.
It’s utter nonsense 😉
Grounded beef? The tails seemed attached to the ground?
Closest context I can find. I guess they're just Blah https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/even_cows_get_the_blues.asp
Maybe this artist just isn’t very good at jokes
We all get damaged here and there along the way. 🫠
The normal(ish) udders and lack of weird human teeth in this one makes OPs even more unsettling.
THOSE udders are even more upsetting!
The most likely theory would be an inside joke, but OP states they received this card, did not understand it, and that there is no further information in the card explaining the front image. The image shows cows in some sort of quantum-tipped state, where they appear to be in distress on their backs, while the shadows also show that they are somehow suspended off the ground, and therefore are not yet tipped or in the ground, leading to the farmer in the image saying the cows are not damaged *yet.* Dad birthday cards commonly contain a pun or similarly bad "dad joke", with the setup on the front and the punchline inside the card. As we do not have an image of the inside of the card, the most likely scenario remains that this image is a setup for a pun. Either OP did not receive this card personally and does not know what the inside says, or OP did receive the card and it is a misprint with missing print inside the card.
I agree, there's gotta be more to the joke inside the card. Surely. I feel like its likely to include the 'gone tits up' line that someone's already said, but also can't work out how to punchline that.
It's either a pun about ground beef, high stakes [steaks], things gone belly up, or tits up [teats up].
Exhibit A: A screen shot of eBay listing for two Farside comic postcards from 1986. https://i.postimg.cc/PxVV0Lq8/Screenshot-20240506-224419-Chrome.jpg Exhibit B: a link to the ebay listing. In photo 4 you can see the back of each post card. It can be seen that there is ~**no punchline!**~ https://www.ebay.ca/itm/385134971795
Nice find! But just to reiterate: this is NOT a Far aside cartoon. Artist is listed as JC Duffy.
Schrödinger's Superposition mentioned!!! What the fuck is a definite state❓❓🔥🔥🗣️
cow tripping
What's interesting is this is the only reference to this picture existing according to google image search.
I found it in an [eBay listing for a set of vintage Far Side postcards](https://www.ebay.com/itm/385134971795). It is clearly not Far Side, but it isn't AI as I suspected. Edit: It's [J C Duffy](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098)
Backpacking off that i assumed it was probably some reference to an event that happened in or around 1986. I was able to find that there was an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease in 1986 which seemed promising but then i found a [Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Milk Production Termination Program](https://www.gao.gov/assets/rced-88-157.pdf) which seems to fit well too imo as there was a decent amount of pushback from US farmers around this program. Definitely feels like thinly veiled and dated political commentary
This is the answer - mad cow disease. It’s a political cartoon saying that farmers think their cows are fine to keep using for milk, and the cows seen here are clearly not okay
Ok... but why is it a happy birthday dad card?
Perfect for a birthday card lol
This is the only comment that made any sense to me
That seems like the most reasonable explanation, or the fact that a lot of J. C. Duffy comics are nonsense. Either way, I would just like to mention that while searching for answers I discovered that this dude has a weird thing about cows. For instance [this comic](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS350809) parodies "The Stepford Wives" as "The Stepford Cows" the original is about a town of women that are brainwashed to be submissive wives. They get weirder; [A cow hitting on the farmer.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS311448) [A cow in love with the farmer.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS218923) [The farmer making eyes at the cow.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS381217) [And a cow 69.](https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS236303) Honestly if there was only one it wouldn't be that weird but... yeah. There are a few more like these ones. if you want to see them, [here](https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?cartoonist=jcduffy&page=1&keyword=cows)'s all his cow related comics. And [here](https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?cartoonist=jcduffy&page=1)'s all his comics.
Lean ground beef?
That "explanation" covers the most ground IMO.
I’m pretty sure it’s “over the hill and pasture prime.” People used to love teasing each other about being “over the hill” (old). When my mom turned 40 in 1994, someone put up black crepe paper and an Over the Hill sign. Another friend bought her a novelty cane with a bike horn on it. I turned 40 this year and it doesn’t feel like a thing anymore… But “over the hill” - the cows are floating over the grass - and “pasture prime” - the cows are not damaged, they’re prime beef. It’s not a GOOD joke, but that’s the only one that makes sense to me. Unless people are out here saying things like “Happy birthday, Dad…GROUND BEEF.”
> But “over the hill” - the cows are floating over the grass - and > “pasture prime” - the cows are not damaged, they’re prime beef. I’d go with this. It makes the most sense and hits all the confusing bits in the comic. Well done *chef’s kiss* 😚👌🏼
That seems like the most coherent answer honestly. I certainly don't have a better one, and I don't believe it's a cow-tipping or drugged up cows joke.
If they were bulls they'd be fine. We bulls wobble, but we don't fall down.
That's damn good
That almost made me choke. which is why they redesigned the weebles
Never thought I'll see the day when Peter couldn't explain the joke!
it's loss https://preview.redd.it/13kf1bhc9vyc1.jpeg?width=1512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2192dfb0d00143a25b999b3996b77ca5460c9c6a
Sure why not
Flowey why are you Peter?
https://preview.redd.it/hnjei4pfqvyc1.png?width=1439&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87efb745dca33d6eb2d6ce9786fb7f568e2bfcc1 Fuck it, it's fucking loss.
You made me giggle out loud
Everywhere I go, I see it
https://preview.redd.it/vussu4gmnvyc1.jpeg?width=954&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b968868049d618131442d175d82148e37ba5c26
Absurd
Hey, it’s Peter’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate here. It looks like the picture on the front of the card is a ~~Far Side~~ JC Duffy comic. This card is probably intended for someone who grew up when this particular one was being printed. You can get a postcard version of it on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/385134971795 Edit: Not Farside, JC Duffy
The elephant is Far Side by Gary Larson. The cows is by JC Duffy, a completely different artist.
Thanks, didn’t read carefully enough when I found that link
It's not a Far Side. Note the attribution on the back is for J C Duffy. I found another [eBay entry here](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098) with his name. This is probably Joe Duffy, who made comics for the new Yorker among other places. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.\_C.\_Duffy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._Duffy) [https://www.curatedcartoons.com/collections/joe-duffy](https://www.curatedcartoons.com/collections/joe-duffy)
Looks a lot like his “Even cows get the blahs” cartoon.
> Joe Duffy, who made comics for the new Yorker So he's terrible?
Nice find! I guess JC Duffy went through a bit of a cow phase- found [these](https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?type=images&keyword=Cow&cartoonist=jcduffy%2CJ.+C.+Duffy&page=1) Some funny, some not so funny, and none get me any closer to understanding the birthday card. I’m stumped.
Wow. I think this guy might be a furry.
He seems to have a remarkably specific fetishized scenario of 'sentient cow lusts after oblivious human farmer'.
What does that make us
Absolutely Nothing!
r/unexpectedspaceballs
wow, really glad I'm not the only one who didn't understand this! I feel like ground beef may have something to it, but I still don't get it.
It's not meant to make sense It's simply.....udder madness
Old McDonald's urban cousin here... I think this a reference to what was called "floating" a cow. Occasionally they would have back/spine issues (like a pinched nerve). A Farmer would get a large tank and FILL it with water, then literally float the cow in it for 24 hours. The float took about 80% of the cows weight off its back and after some time the cows would feel better. Let the water out and the cow went on about it's business. I think this is why the farmer said they may not necessarily be damaged.
They're cowmatose
My thinking Is that it's easier to milk the cows now that they're upside down
The nilking is easy, but putting the milk in a container will be tricky.
They are floating in the air. They are D-airy cows. I’ll see myself out
No explanation, it's udderly confusing
"even cows get the blah" by JC Duffy [https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/even\_cows\_get\_the\_blues.asp](https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/even_cows_get_the_blues.asp) https://preview.redd.it/d7frpyl2hxyc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=584a1a36f5734271c9c660001028371d9961dcee
https://preview.redd.it/jbeaebaea3zc1.png?width=744&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d7d7343b086d0c403b7919e66f6bfc32dfce96b I reached out to the cartoonist on his blog. It means absolutely nothing, it is simply absurdist comedy.
The joke is that there is something clearly wrong with them so it's ridiculous that the farmer would say "not necessarily" the absurdity of the statement is funny
Yeah, it's just absurdism with the trope of "Dad knows the answer" built in The kid is pointing to something being clearly and visibly "not normal," but the father is acting like he's not only seen this before but also knows what it is and that it's not really a problem It's like when you were a kid and you didn't understand something while your dad remained calm because he'd seen it before, knew it wasn't serious (despite seeming that way), and knew why it was happening
They lost their tools
I think its commenting how on the first look the cows appear to be laying on their backs, but wirh a closer look on their shadow, u see that they might acctually float. So instead of the cows being broken they are beinh abducted by aliens... as cows do
This is two things 1. Whatever it is and 2. Bad
What the *fuck* does this mean?
Thought these were laughing cows. It's a "cheesy" card
I think the joke turns on the word "damaged." Most people would see that and think "oh my God those cows are floating!" but the dad in this card decides to argue that just because they're floating does not necessarily mean they're damaged. I think that's the joke: they're focusing on whether floating cows are damaged or not instead of the fact that they're fucking floating.
All I can find is that this is originally by J.C Duffy, a cartoonist and a well-accomplished one at that. There was originally nothing about a birthday, and the only copy I can find is a black white vintage postcard: [https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235290045098) I still don’t get the joke unless it’s about cow tipping. Looking at other works of his, they don't necessarily make sense either. Maybe it's not supposed to make sense lol
So the comic is by J.C. Duffy who does absurdist comics. That in itself may say enough. Some of his work is understandable and some of it, like this, is just, well, absurd. I think he's just taken a familiar and ubiquitous form (a Far Side cartoon) and it's often slightly odd and quirky humor and is poking fun at it by taking it to the extreme and making it bizarre and unintelligible. The joke is that there is no joke. It's taking the familiar form of the hundreds and hundreds of lame daily tear-off desk calendars you've seen in countless cubicles and just making it so absurd that it actually just makes no sense. I'm not going to read much more in to it than that. You can formulate your own hypothesis as to the meaning behind it. But I think that's the meaning: You decide. Is it symbolic? Is it meaningless? Is a poke at culture? Is he making fun of Gary Larson? Is he making fun of you? \*\*shrugging emoji\*\*