The calf in picture was one of three in the car, they had just been bought at auction. Photo / Supplied
A woman has described her total shock after she spotted a cow casually riding in a car on a Macca's drive-through run.
Jessica Nelson was struck by the startling sight of the calf looking out the back seat window of the Buick sedan as she pulled into the drive-through queue at a McDonald's in Mashfield, Wisconsin, on Thursday.
She filmed the scene and posted it on Facebook, where it has gone viral with close to 160,000 views.
"A WHOLE FREAKING COW!!!" she wrote in the caption.
"Tell me you live in Wisconsin without telling me you live in Wisconsin."
Nelson told FOX6 she spotted the cow while drive-through lines were long during the lunchtime rush.
"I seemed to have been the only one freaking out about a cow being in a Buick," she said.
Nelson told the Associated Press she initially thought the calf was fake until its head moved.
Nelson said she was later contacted by the calf's owner and was told there were in fact three calves in the car — two were laying down, out of view — and they had recently been bought at an auction, which she believed to be the Central Wisconsin State Fair.
The new owner possibly had no other way to take the bovine purchases home.
Nelson said she was "new to the farming thing", having recently married a farmer, and "I'm now convinced I need to drive around with a cow in my car."
Commentators on Nelson's video were as amused by the sight as she was.
"Taking a cow to get a burger? Something is wrong with that," someone wrote.
"Maybe he wanted a shake, hope the shake machines aren't down," another person said.
"Maybe they are bringing in 'fresh' meat? Okay I'm terrible," someone joked.
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