Mystery as Harriet the cow gives birth… and there’s no bull in sight
MEET the Virgin Moo- ry, a cow which apparently became pregnant without a bull being present.
Harriet the Dexter cow shocked staff at a garden centre when she gave birth to Petal because they do not own any bulls.
Owner Liz Robinson, 30, said: “We had absolutely no idea Harriet was pregnant until she woke us up in labour.
“She didn’t look any different to the others – just another fat cow. We have never bred cows at the nursery so we don’t have any bulls.
“We weren’t told Harriet was pregnant when we bought her so when Petal arrived we were all stumped.”
Liz has owned Pinewood Nurseries in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, with her husband Tom and sister Maria Jackson, both 33, for just over 10 years.
They have been rearing Dexter cows for meat in their adjoining farm shop for four years but have never bred their own. Instead they buy them in from a livestock supplier.
As a result they have never needed a stud on the farm and were shocked when Harriet woke them up with labour noises in the middle of the night.
Liz said: “One of the cows woke Tom up with their loud lowing. He rushed down to see what was going on.
“When he got there, Harriet was in the middle of labour and that was the first we knew.
“We thought some of the others might have been pregnant, but we’ve had no babies since.”
Fortunately for Petal – named after the flowers grown at the nursery – she is not destined to be sold in the farm shop.