If you're driving past Turner Field next week and see a strange object above left field, your eyes are not deceiving you.

Chick-fil-A's metro Atlanta restaurants are taking the company's cow campaign to new heights, hoisting a 40-foot-tall, 15,000-pound, tomahawk-chopping mechanical cow atop the Braves' stadium.

The cow is expected to arrive in Atlanta this weekend and be unveiled at the June 20 game against the Seattle Mariners. Look for it between the big Coca-Cola bottle and the out-of-town scoreboard.

The local Chick-fil-A operators wanted to do something that clearly tied the chicken sandwich chain to its Atlanta roots, said Robin Ogle, Atlanta-area marketing director for Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A's headquarters is on the Southside, and it has 131 outlets in the area. The Braves and the Chick-fil-A cows, part of a campaign that urges people to "Eat Mor Chikin," seemed a natural pairing, Ogle said.

"People have a fondness for the cows," Ogle said. "Anytime we can make a cow bigger and funnier, people love it. They respond to it."

The Braves liked the idea because the cow enhances the fan experience, said Derek Schiller, executive vice president of sales and marketing for the club.

The Coca-Cola bottle at Turner Field shoots off fireworks after home runs. An AT&T sign keeps track of strikeouts. The cow adds another interactive element.

"I think it's going to be a great complement to the stadium," Schiller said.

"It supports what is a very well-known and famous fan activity, doing the tomahawk chop. It fits well with the Braves culture and with Turner Field."

Chick-fil-A started the cow campaign in 1995. Cow billboards are now scattered across the Atlanta area and the United States. A pair of cows is featured on a water tower as drivers approach Atlanta from the South.

But the tomahawk cow is special. Chick-fil-A began talking with the Braves two years ago.

It contracted Kern Studios, a New Orleans company best known for making Mardi Gras floats, to build the cow.

The design went through several alterations. Chick-fil-A initially was presented with a cow posed in a tomahawk chop.

Then, the design was changed so the cow chopped from the shoulder.

That simply would not do, Ogle said. The cow had to bend at the elbow. That's the way fans chop at Braves' games.

"Anything less than that didn't make sense," Ogle said.

Kern fabricated the cow in its Valencia, Spain, facility and shipped it to New Orleans this spring. The cow is scheduled to be hauled in pieces to Atlanta this weekend and lifted by crane to its home in Turner Field. It has a Braves hat and signboard that reads "Du Tha Chop. Eat Tha Chikin."

Chick-fil-A has a five-year agreement to keep the cow at Turner Field, but the contract could be extended, Ogle said. She would not disclose the price of the agreement.

"Let's put it this way —- it's a lot of chicken sandwiches," Ogle said.

In addition to the cow, Chick-fil-A recently opened two outlets at Turner Field. The stadium restaurants, like the rest of Chick-fil-A outlets, are closed on Sundays.

The cow will chop at every game.

"The thing with the Chick-fil-A cows is that they do not work for Chick-fil-A," Ogle said. "They're working for the beef cause."

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TURNER FIELD COW

> Height: 40 feet

> Weight: 15,000 lbs.

> Sponsor: Chick-fil-A's 131 metro Atlanta restaurants

> Debut: Expected to be unveiled at the June 20 game between the Braves and Seattle Mariners

> Origination: Fabricated at a Valencia, Spain, facility by Kern Studios, a New Orleans company that builds sculptures and Mardi Gras floats