This is a Cow... (home-grown food and shipping)

Six panels of maps of Britain with verse captions contrast a cow fed on food from 60 ships a month before the war with one fed on home-grown food, then show crops and a spade. The verses speak in the collective 'we' and 'our will', fusing the reader with the national effort, and ask households to sow vegetables so ships carry arms.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Identity fusion

Date

1939

Period

Second World War

Made by

His Majesty's Stationery Office (Ministry of Agriculture/food-production campaign not named on the poster); printer Greycaines, Watford and London

Region

Western and Central Europe

Country

United Kingdom

Medium

Poster

Issuer type

State

Regime

Churchill Government

Leader

Winston Churchill

Audience

Domestic public

Purpose

Mobilize or secure compliance

Themes

Home front, Economy and finance

Event

World War II

Regime

Churchill wartime government

Leader

Winston Churchill

Source

Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are

Source

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026

Rights

Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
UK government (HMSO / His Majesty's Stationery Office (Ministry of Agriculture/food-production campaign not named on the poster)), 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, WWII Foreign Posters, NAID 44267261, local identifier 44-PF-468.

This is a cow who smacked her lips
On food that came to her in ships.
For 60 ships a month pre-war
She'd give the milk we asked her for.

This is a cow in war-time mood
Who's learnt to feed on home-grown food;
But British farmers plan her diet,
So milk supplies don't suffer by it.

These are the spuds and oats and wheat
(The most important things we eat),
That must be grown on British farms
So ships are spared to bring us arms.

These are the things that you can sow
To supplement what farmers grow.
With vegetables throughout our land
We'll foil the scheme the Axis planned.

This is a spade to symbolise
Our will to grow our own supplies.
We'll feed ourselves - then ships are free
To carry arms to Victory.

[imprint:] Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Greycaines, Watford and London. 51-2961