It's the bread and butter of any trip to the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Well, maybe just the butter.

For the past 17 years, visitors to the annual farm show have enjoyed a unique combination of craftsmanship and dairy products in the form of a butter sculpture.

This year's 1,000 pound sculpture shows three students and a dairy cow boarding a school bus on their way to take a field trip to learn more about Pennsylvania's dairy industry.

Jim Victor, creator of this year's sculpture and numerous other food sculptures throughout the nation, says working in a medium such as butter has it drawbacks.

"It was a constant struggle with fluctuating temperatures," says Victor.
 
Although Victor has done this many time before, he says it never gets any easier.

"They're all tough," says Victor. "I don't think I've had one that's been easy."

Victor says the Pennsylvania Farm Show sculpture also presents a challenge because of its size.

"Part of it is the size of the booth," says Victor. "It's enormous. This is the biggest one I do in the country."

He says the platform that the sculpture sits on is twice the size of the one used at the New York State Fair.

Victor also created last year's farm show sculpture which depicted Benjamin Franklin next to the Liberty Bell.

If you're wondering how long it takes a cow to produce 1,000 pounds of butter, consider it takes 21 pounds of milk to produce a pound of butter. The typical Pennsylvania dairy cow produces 21,000 pounds of milk in approximately nine months, which is enough to make the sculpture.

Pennsylvania is the nation's 5th ranking state when it comes to milk production. In 2006, dairy cows statewide helped produce 10.7 billion pounds of butter.