There's no PR like any PR

Bag Balm.

Ever heard of it?

Me neither.

At least not unitl last week.

"What is it?" you ask.

Well, it's a salve used to rub on cow's udders.  It's been around for more than 100 years.  But herein lies the rub (no pun intended), it's used for almost anything, including that.  In an Associated Press story dated January 27, 2010 about this gooey substance, people have used Bag Balm on squeaky bed springs, psoriasis, dry facial skin, cracked fingers, burns, zits, diaper rash, saddle sores, sunburn, pruned trees, rifles, shell casings, bed sores and radiation burns.

According to Bag Balm lore, the stuff went from barns to bedrooms when dairy farmers' wives noticed how smooth their spouses' fingers were after using it on cows' udders.  The wives were jealous.  The rest is history.

The genious here is that you can't pay for that kind of publicity.  Here's a product intended for the underside of a cow, and people are using it for their own home remedies and have been doing so for 100 years now.  The story is out.

According to the article, Bag Balm went to the North Pole with Admiral Byrd, to Allied troops in World War II, who used it to keep weapons from corroding, to Ground Zero for the paws of cadaver-sniffing dogs searching the World Trade Center rubble, and to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The article goes on to note that this small Lyndonville, Vt. operation is family-owned with a grand total of six employees.  Distributed by wholesalers and sold retail in farm stores, national drugstore chains and general stores, its popularity has grown largely with word-of-mouth advertising as converts becomes users and then devotees.

And now with this AP story spreading like wildfire so should the curiosity of this "udderly" amazing do-it-all product.