- Belinda

Belinda the Beguiling Belinda is our favorite cow. We can't help it, we just LOVE her. She is also the model for our logo. For more than a decade and a half, she was the unquestioned leader of the herd, the authority to end all disputes, the pathfinder, the decider, the queen of the hill. Our inspiration. Belinda?s birth date is March 31, 1988: she's an old cow. A year or so ago she developed a bad case of lumpy jaw. This is not treatable. Earlier this summer, Belinda began losing condition and we thought there was a good chance she wouldn't make it to the fall. Disruptions appeared in the herd hierarchy. First, there was jostling and pushing, then little battles flared. One morning in early August, we discovered Belinda with one horn missing, just a bloody six inch stump where the previously spectacular horn had been. (The horn had had a weak spot due to years of insect damage). She looked dumbfounded and dejected. She'd apparently come out on the worse end of a leadership dispute. This appeared to be the beginning of the end. We separated her from the rest of the herd and installed her in a twenty acre hospice behind the house. There, she would be spared any further battles, we could feed her a pelleted feed twice a day, and minister to the bloody horn stump. We called the vet, told her we'd probably be calling her any day now to come put Belinda down. That was not to be. After a few days of pellets and away from the herd squabbles, Belinda was thriving. She is now perkier than ever and comes waddling, sometimes even trotting, up the hill when we call her up for meals. Her lumpy jaw has taken on an ever more bizarre appearance and has been draining really repulsive pussy stuff for months now but that makes the swelling go down and she does not appear to be in discomfort. We groom her and massage her regularly. She loves this. This is not altruistic behaviour on our part. Belinda enjoys being groomed more than anyone we know. If one grooms the right places, in just the right way, she will close her eyes, stop eating, moan softly, drool, and go into such a complete state of rapture that it is awesome to be a part of. Grooming Belinda is meditation, it soothes the soul. Interestingly, the cow who appears to be taking over the herd is Buttercup, Belinda's daughter. We suspect, it may well be Buttercup who is responsible for her mother's missing horn.

- Buttercup

Buttercup the Bully Buttercup is the daughter of Elmer and Belinda. She shares her mother?s unusually broad horn span, she even has a similar hair-do but she is way bigger than her mother. She is, in fact, a huge cow. Until Belinda's decline, Buttercup did not appear to aspire to her mother?s leadership position. She was a polite, middle-of-the-herd kind of cow. Over the past year or so, however, she has grown in dominance until, it appears, she may really be the new herd leader. There is still some jostling going on and she does not have everyone's respect as Belinda did during most of her reign, but she does appear to be consolidating power. Her birthday is April 23, 1995. Her hobby is standing and eating.

- Ruby

Ruby the Ravishing Ruby is quite simply the loveliest cow we have ever met. Her horns are exquisite. Her red hair is a particularly rich hue and she has a proud head carriage peculiarly her own. Ruby is friendly though shy with strangers. She was born September 26, 1992 and she is the mother of Blossom. She almost died in 2006 after suffering a serious back injury caused by excessive humping from some overeager gang banging adolescent steers. She was nursed back to health over the winter and had some peculiar procedures done by the vet in the course of trying to discover what was wrong with her. She is now extremely wary of anyone being anywhere near her hind end. The good news is that she's had an excellent recovery and may be modelling for years to come.

- Blossom

Blossom of the Crookedy Horns Blossom is the daughter of Elmer and Ruby. She does not share her mother?s good looks and is a timid cow with slightly crooked horns. Perhaps this has given her a complex and explains her lack of self-confidence. We don?t know. She was born on May 29, 1995. Blossom has recently become extremely lame. We are not sure why. She has joined Belinda in the hospice behind the house and we are starting her on a regimen of pellets and alfalfa mash laced with aspirin. We'll see if this helps.

- Rosa

Rosa of the Exceedingly Sharp Horns Rosa is an odd cow. She has been up and down and up and down again in the herd hierarchy. In her youth, she was always a bottom of the bottom cow. Then, in 2001, from one day to the next, she went from being the bottom ranked cow, to challenging Belinda for the top. Everything about her demeanor changed over night. The herd dynamics all went haywire, Belinda actually gave way to her and it looked like the takeover would be complete. It had been a hostile takeover, a coup, and there were those in the herd who felt a more democratic process should have taken place. A few cows rebelled and kept following Belinda, the rest accepted the new order and followed Rosa around. About six months into the new regime, Rosa's authority suffered a total collapse, Belinda resurfaced as herd honcho, and Rosa went back down to the very bottom of the bovine caste system. No explanation for these machinations was ever forthcoming. Rosa remains in the bottom third of the herd hierarchy. Rosa was born June 12, 1995. She had hoped for an internship in the Bush administration to help hone her political skills.

- Flora

Flora the Exuberant Flora is an exuberant and friendly cow with the finesse of a mack truck. She is big and a good contender for a leadership position. In fact, we had hoped she would be the next in line for the head job though she seems to have lost some confidence lately. Still, she may yet wrangle for top status in the future. She was born April 28, 1996, a Taurus. She loves eating.

- Enigma

Enigma the Loner Enigma was painfully shy in her youth and was a rather homely adolescent. Fortunately, she has grown into a very large and attractive cow. She avoided human contact in the early years and was always a herd outsider. However, Enigma had a leg injury a few years ago. During her convalescence she grew rather fond of alfalfa cube stew and she now has a much sunnier view of human beings. Still, within the herd, she is still oddly aloof and spends much of her time alone. We don't know why this is. She was born on April 13, 1996.

- Ginger Ale

Ginger Ale the Well-Adjusted Ginger Ale is a splendid cow. Friendly, enormous, with elegant horns, pretty ears and lovely eyes. Amicable in every way, she socializes with everyone and holds a solid position in the herd hierarchy. She was born on April 10, 1997. Her favorite food is the apple and she really doesn?t mind at all if it is full of worms.

- Jewel

Jewel the Lovely Jewel is etremely photogenic. She is a creamy white cow and keeps herself remarkably clean (well, maybe not always). She gleams on a sunny summer day. She has large well-formed horns, large eyes, and a very outgoing personality. She likes to stick her nose in the truck and her tongue in your face. Jewel was born in March of 1997, but so subtly, that no one noticed which day. She loves eating almost anything out of one's hand.

- Blondie

Blondie the Peculiar Blondie is a peculiar cow though quite clever. She knows her name and comes when called but oddly and stubbornly refuses to take food from the hand. She was born on April 21, 1997. She has a sweet, though sort of homely face. She loves to eat but keeps a trim figure (by highland standards) because she has always been the low ranking cow and is often chased from food by her more forceful sisters. However, we have noticed her becoming more uppity lately and there is no telling where this will lead.

- Brindle

Brindle the Youthful Brindle is the youngest cow in the herd, born in March of 1998. She is a tough stocky cow, not very trusting but not exactly shy either. Her father, Elmer, left the herd before she was born and she was the last of his progeny to be born here. Her mother left the herd the same year. We think this is behind a lot of her sometimes aggressive tendencies toward her sisters. She eats a lot.