Despite hours of hard work and dedication, a boy and his cow finished fifth place out of seven other contestants at the Iowa State Fair’s youth dairy cattle show on Sunday.

Mitchell Miner,15 and his cow pal Audri decided to reward themselves after long weeks of preparation, so they took a nap together inside the barn. His father, Jeremy Miner, took photos of the two snuggling up while they slept. His father later posted the pictures on Facebook Sunday night, with the caption: “Our son Mitchell and his heifer after showing yesterday.” The picture immediately went viral and gained more than 15,000 likes by the next day.

Miner’s mother, Laura, said people enjoy seeing that type of relationship with a kid and their animal.

“I think it’s just when you spend that much time with them, they get really comfortable with you,” she said.

They had become very close since they’d spent just about every day together over the last two months getting ready for the competition. Mitchell would lead, bath, clip, and walk Audri regularly leading up to the competition.

The family is used to borrow animals for the summer so that her kids can get a feel for the farm life.

“We learned a lot from the farm,” Jeremy Miner, Mitchell’s dad, said. “We have those values instilled in us and we are trying to do what we can to preserve that.”

As for Audri the napping cow, she will be heading back to the dairy farm once the showings finish in September.

Recently a picture of a 15-year-old boy taking a sweet nap with his cow went viral

Mitchell Miner and his cow Audri recently participated in the Iowa State Fair dairy cattle show

They didn’t win the competition, but they surely won the Internet