Oh no! What has happened to our famous Milton Keynes concrete cows?

People are worried that things may not be ‘all-white’ with the city’s iconic concrete cows at the moment.

The famous friesian herd have lost their black patches and have been painted totally white.

People took to social media over the weekend to complain, the new look, saying it was a moo-ve too far in destroying the city’s heritage.

But they can rest assured, for today (Monday) The Park Trust has explained what is happening.

The cows are having a makeover and the white is just an undercoat in preparation for the final black and white paint job.

A Trust spokesman said: “The concrete cows at Bancroft are being repainted. This work only takes a few weeks, so we’ll share new photographs and information upon completion.”

The herd put Milton Keynes on the map decades ago, while the new city was still being built. They were created in 1978 by Canadian artist Liz Leyh while she working as artist in residence at Stacey Hill Farm, which is now the home of MK Museum. The base armatures were metal, with chicken wire stuffed with newspaper used to create the general shape.

The original colouring of the cows and calves was achieved using dyes instead of paint and some of them were brown. They were designed as a leaving present from the Milton Keynes Development Corporation, which oversaw the building of the city centre. Afterwards The Parks Trust was put in charge of maintaining them.

Interestingly, the herd at Bancroft are not the original herd. There are actually two sets of concrete cows. The original cows, due to the construction method, were quite delicate, so in the 1980s local artist Bill Billings was called upon to use his skills with concrete and wire mesh to create a sturdier herd.

This is the set that stands today at Bancroft, while Liz Leyh’s herd is now safely housed at MK Museum.

Over the years the cows have suffered occasional vandalisim. The most famous time was in October 2012 when some prankster meticulously repainted them as skeletons a couple of weeks before Halloween.