April fool's: Miniature cow delivers full-size calf

When Roxi, a miniature Black Angus cow, gave birth to a full-size calf, owner Dee Sedlacek was just as surprised as mama.

“I thought, ha, ha, ha, April Fool's,” Dee says, after her son, Dakota, sent her a cellphone text message with the news.

Even after Dee's husband, Donny, called to confirm the April 1 birth, Dee remained skeptical.

“He doesn't usually get mad,” she says. “But he said, ‘Dang it, you need to get home.'”

Sure enough, the 450-pound cow had delivered a 50-pound baby.

“We didn't even know she was pregnant,” Dee says. “We just thought she put on some weight.”

Roxi weighed just 25 pounds when Dee brought her home from another farm nearly three years ago, just a day after her May 24 birth.

“For some reason, they thought her mom wasn't claiming her,” Dee says. “They knew I liked bottle calves. She was so small, she sat in my lap.”

But a healthy diet that included milk in a bottle brought Roxi along to become an independent little cuss. She was always escaping, so she acquired the nickname Houdini. She also seemed to yearn for companionship.

“She always wanted to be with the cows,” Dee says. “Eventually we gave in to her and she got to run with the herd.”

Donny, 47, who works full time at Metro Plumbing in Iowa City, helps oldest brother Jim and six other brothers on the family's 135-year-old farm. With rental property, which includes more than 500 acres, they grow corn, beans, oats and hay and raise about 200 cows, 100 pigs and 50 sheep.

“I never got the taste of farm life until I met him,” says Dee, 45, a para-educator at Longfellow Elementary in Iowa City. “I love it, most of the time.”

Their youngest son, Dakota, 19, is studying agriculture production and management at Kirkwood Community College.

Dee thought it would be fun to breed Roxi with another miniature Black Angus.

“One pet is enough,” Donny says, knowing that Dee would name a miniature calf and not want to part with it.

Well, it seems Roxi understood her surrogate mother's wishes. Somehow she got together with the only bull in the herd, a 2,000-pound one.

“We have to say, we've never heard of this before,” Donny says. “Our vet didn't know about it, either.”

Roxi delivered the calf on her own without complications, although problems could arise as the calf grows bigger. Already, at 65 pounds, it's not getting enough milk from Roxi, who is producing only enough for a miniature calf. So the family has once again taken a baby Black Angus under its wing.

And, as you might guess, this calf could be around for a while, too. Dee has named it Tiny.