'Cow Power' spawns sequel

Woodville dairy farmer Kim Riley hopes she will some day be a fully fledged author, but for now she is combining her writing career with milking cows.

Baby Cow Power, the story of a calf born to Cow No 569, the cow that rescued Mrs Riley from treacherous Manawatu floodwaters in February 2004, has hit the book stores.

Her first book, Cow Power, was a runaway bestseller when it was published in 2004. It was reprinted five times and sold 11,000 copies.

Now there is the sequel - the story of the eighth calf born to Cow No 569 and of the events that unfolded after his birth.

The calf is named Tuggy's Buoy.

There was always going to be another book after Cow Power, Mrs Riley says.

"Everywhere I went, people said, 'well, what happened next?', and I kept thinking that if people are so interested, I should write another book," she says.

Two other manuscripts have been submitted to the publisher in between the two Cow books. "One on a cat, which was turned down, and one on a dog, which had some potential," Mrs Riley says.

Having an author in the house is not daunting for husband Keith Riley. He is a little concerned, however, that his "No 1 milker" is going on a roadshow to promote the second book.

The good news is that even though Cow No 569's calf is a bull, and would typically have had a short life, the calf was donated to the Owlcatraz Farm Park in Shannon after being auctioned to raise money for Plunket.

"Tuggy's Buoy is expected to grow fat and look cute. He looks very happy and will live a long life there," Mrs Riley says.

- NZPA