Holy Cow (Schwein gehabt!)
Synopsis
On a small farm called South Lake Creek, calf Benny lives with his mother Ella-Mae and his best friend, a cocky young lamb called Patrick. Around them is a barnyard of mismatched characters: a showman rooster, two hens who are in love with him and at war with each other, an anxious gander married to a goose who claims to see the future, a panicky rabbit with a secret tunnel, a clumsy farm dog, and a black cat nobody fully trusts.
Then one morning the farmer takes Benny away.
Patrick refuses to wait. Ella-Mae refuses to grieve quietly. Grandpa Duncan the pig insists on a plan. By nightfall the rabbit's hidden tunnel is open, the dog has short-circuited the gate, and the entire farm is stumbling into a wilderness none of them know — including the cat, who did not intend to come along at all.
The forest is bigger than they remember it. They argue about directions. They argue about snacks. They hijack a vegetable truck. They wake a wolf who would rather eat them than listen, and end up in a conversation about berries instead. The goose senses things her husband cannot explain. The hens keep flirting with the rooster through every emergency. The dog keeps breaking electrical equipment at unhelpful moments.
Far from home, Benny discovers he is not the only young animal who has been taken, and that the smallest allies can be the bravest.
Back in the wild, his mother and his friends are getting closer and so is the farmer and his minions.
A story about a missing calf, the friends who refuse to leave him behind, and a rescue party held together by stubbornness, loyalty, and a great deal of luck.
Pixable Role
Scope of Work
Production Partners
Writers
Producer
Key Crew
Budget
Funding
Themes
Production Notes
Protagonists
- Benny — Six-month-old calf. Son of Ella-Mae; father is gone. Wears a small cowbell; later tagged as #555 at the slaughterhouse. Innocent and joyful at the start, becomes a survivor and reluctant leader who restores identity to numbered calves. Central child protagonist.
- Ella-Mae — Cow. Benny's single mother and the emotional heart of the story. Loving, protective, anxious, brave. Sings a lullaby. Drives the rescue plot through grief and determination.
- Patrick — Lamb, Benny's best friend. Son of Gladys. Playful, cocky, mischievous, loyal. First to demand action after Benny is taken.
- Lucy — pika. Wears a cowgirl hat with a lasso. Resourceful, sarcastic, self-reliant, secretly wounded — humans separated her from her family. Helps Benny and the calves escape the slaughterhouse; later splits from Benny on the flatlands.
Farm ensemble
- Duncan — Elder pig ("Grandpa Duncan"). Wise moral voice and expedition leader; reveals the rumored sanctuary. Tracks Benny's scent.
- Gladys — Sheep, Patrick's mother and Ella-Mae's friend. Pragmatic, blunt, emotionally intelligent. Sings a grief lament
- Russell — Rooster. Flamboyant showman with harmonica; uses English catchphrases ("It's showtime!"). Comic vanity tempered by genuine participation in the rescue.
- Kicki and Picki — Hen sister duo, comic chorus. Both infatuated with Russell; constantly bickering.
- Mr. Beak — Gander. Rational skeptic, pedantic, anxious. Husband of Mrs. Beak. Arc: learns to trust intuition over pure analysis.
- Mrs. Beak — Goose. Mystic and oracle; senses "waves". Comedic but increasingly validated — predicts events, calls fireflies, chooses the correct mountain path.
- Lucky — Rabbit. Panicky scaredy-rabbit who has secretly dug an emergency escape tunnel — that tunnel becomes the key to the farm escape.
- Sheela — Black farm cat. Antagonistic trickster who lies to Benny and Patrick about "SwineFlu" and sings the main villain song. Accidentally dragged along during the escape; reluctantly joins the group and shows the start of redemption. In the climax, takes a tranquilizer dart meant for Patrick.
- Whiskey — Farm dog. Clumsy, cross-eyed, oblivious. Recurring chaos agent who short-circuits electrical systems by urinating on fuse boxes — causes the gate opening, then the slaughterhouse explosion.
Slaughterhouse and journey
- Frankie — Calf prisoner. Receives identity when Benny names him.
- Sam — Calf prisoner. Gentle, frightened, named by Benny.
- Herr Eber — Boar. Foreshadowing figure who first warns Benny and Patrick.
- Shadow— Wolf. Threatens the animals in the dark forest; converted by a song.
- Jill and Jack — Beavers. Married pair (Jill is pregnant). Build and then sabotage a dam to help the animals cross the river and trap the pursuers.
- Abigail — Mountain goat. Scatterbrained mountain guide who has lost her own hiking group;
- Josie — peacock butterfly. Narrator and framing storyteller; opens and closes the film, addresses the audience directly.
Human antagonists
-The Farmer — Owner of South Lake Creek. Profit-driven, near-silent, violent in pursuit.
- Livestock transport driver — Tags Benny #555, pays the farmer.
- Slaughterhouse butchers / workers — Threatening human antagonists inside the facility.
- Pförtner — Slaughterhouse gate guard, comic figure absorbed in TV sports.
- Two hunters / Handlanger — Slapstick incompetent pursuers with rifles.
- Ranger — Coordinates the helicopter pursuit toward the mountains.
