Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe British brothers set pumpkin size record NETLEY, England, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A pumpkin bigger than a small car has smashed the British all-time record for the largest-ever orange gourd, officials say. Advertisement The 1,457-pound behemoth was grown by brothers Ian and Stuart Paton of Lymington, England, and handily broke the previous British record of 1,341 pounds as well as the European record of 1,357 pounds set last week by a Belgian farmer, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday. The Paton pumpkin was so large it had to be lifted by a forklift and transported by truck to the Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley, England, where it was weighed by officials at the city's Annual Pumpkin Show. With the giant pumpkin, the brothers regained the British record they set one year ago with a pumpkin weighing 1,188 pounds, the Telegraph said. The world pumpkin record is 1,689 pounds, set last year by U.S. grower Joe Jutras of Rhode Island. Advertisement Racers compete in big floating pumpkins WINDSOR, Nova Scotia, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday was marked in Nova Scotia with a regatta of giant, floating half-pumpkins racing with paddle-power and motors for glory. The 10th Annual Windsor Pumpkin Regatta in the north-central part of the province drew about 10,000 spectators to Pesaquid Lake to watch 50 contestants vie for top spot, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported Monday. Anthony Cook won the paddling event in his giant half-pumpkin painted to resemble a soccer ball. He dedicated his win to his uncle who won last year's regatta, but was disqualified this year when his pumpkin sank during qualifying events Friday, the report said. "He told me to get out ahead fast and that's what I did," Cook said. "(And) you need a pumpkin that cuts though the water good -- that's the key." In the motorized class, Dani Rippey won first place in his ninth year of competing, the report said. Regatta committee spokeswoman VanEssa Roberts said the committee had bigger plans for next year. "I want to contact the Guinness World Records and have them come next year," she said. "Our event is not only the first pumpkin regatta ever held in the world, but it's also the largest." Advertisement Lost cows create udder chaos in Britain LONDON, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A British minister has been forced to admit in Parliament his department lost track of nearly 21,000 head of cattle. The livestock should have been logged into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' tracking system but something went wrong, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday. "Laptops, data and now cows, is there anything this government cannot misplace?" asked Peter Ainsworth, the Shadow Environment secretary. "Defra's performance would do credit to Little Bo Peep." The cattle tracing system was set up to protect the public and animals after the mad cow and foot and mouth epidemics. Last week Britain's Ministry of Defense revealed a computer hard drive with the private details of 100,000 members of the Armed Forces was missing. In August, a memory stick containing data on all prisoners in England and Wales was lost by a Home Office contractor. Farmers: Scarecrow as good as modern tools CHICAGO, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A traditional scarecrow in a farmer's field is just as useful in scaring away unwanted birds as modernized equipment, farmers in Illinois say. St. Clair County Farm Bureau manager Tom Jett said while the number of scarecrows in use today is decreasing, modern anti-bird efforts like propane-filled cannons have not proved more effective than the old-school method, the Chicago Tribune said Monday. Advertisement "It makes a loud boom, and the birds fly up in the air. But then they come back," Jett said of such cannons. "They probably bother the neighbors more than the birds." U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist Andy Clapper said the farming industry has even turned to radio-controlled model airplanes and taped bird distress calls to scare away bird visitors. But he told the Tribune farmers would be best advised to use such tools in conjunction with scarecrows since no "magic bullet" has been found. "We try to tell people to use a variety of techniques because there really isn't a magic bullet out there," Clapper said.
