jerusalem | Call Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a “cowboy” and he’d probably consider it a compliment. Earlier this month a prize Simmental calf from his herd was sold at an auction for a record sum: NIS 15,000 (about $3,340). The stud seems to be the only bit of nachas Sharon’s had recently.

The young calf, in fact, quickly became a national celebrity. The media jumped on the story for some light relief and dealt with it with all the delicacy of the proverbial you-know-what in a china shop.

Taking the bull by the horns, the press reported that the 18-month-old, blue-blooded calf weighed 800 kg. and is being beefed up at a rate of 1.6 kg a day. Readers even learned his testicular size (40 cm. in circumference), because, apparently, size does matter if you are a cow.

The new owner, Rafi Halfa from Moshav Hazon in Galilee, told reporters: “I set out for the cattle auction determined to buy the bull with the best potential. And I’m proud to enrich my herd, which numbers 200 heads, with one of Arik Sharon’s bulls. I like Sharon a lot and 13 years ago I called my son Ariel after him.”

Halfa told Ma’ariv that the bull, until then known only as 819, would be named Omri, after Sharon’s son, a member of the Knesset, and promised that the animal would be put to work at once. “He not only has excellent characteristics, he is also very handsome and that’s one of the reasons I bought him. It’s always best to be with a good-looker in the street.”

Mixing both genders and metaphors, Halfa added: “After I bought him, I felt like someone who had brought home a young bride.”