[justify][center][color=purple][big][i]"I know I ain't what you were expectin', but we can do this one the easy way or the hard way. Maybe close your eyes and just pretend it's a bull behind you, yeah?"[/i][/big][/color][/center][/justify]

Demand for beef is skyrocketing. Slaughter has become so profitable that yearlings are being shipped off to the stockyards after they've only just been weaned. The rabid demand for fresh meat has left countless ranches devoid of the herds of steers that once roamed their hills. It's plain to everyone (save whoever directs capitalism's eternal march, of course) that the widening imbalance between heifers and steers is unsustainable, and that the current pace is only going to make the inevitable crash worse.

However, the glut of dairy cows presented an idea: what if they could breed with each other? The key difference between a dairy and a beef ranch (other than that one involves death by necessity) is that the former requires pregnancies to create their product, while the latter does not. Thus, the best way to raise cattle populations would be to start with the females, and their self-sufficiency became the ultimate goal of the billion-dollar research projects that became the hallmark of the era.

One solution was deemed most practical despite sounding like it came straight out of the scribblings of a sexually confused teenager. With recent advances in biological grafting and hormone therapy, heifers could be granted fully-functional male genitalia with which to ensure the survival of their species.

Esther is the first of a new breed of bovine. With the current dearth of males, she's become quite a valuable asset, fetching top dollar from any farm looking to stay in business after the end of their current generation of cattle. Given that this is pretty much every farm, she's in quite high demand. A week of her services runs what most farmers make in a year, and that high price tag comes with a whole host

As the only one of her kind, improper treatment is not tolerated. She is to be safeguarded at all times and treated with the utmost care. Her quarters (temporary, of course; all the money in the world probably couldn't buy her for a lifetime) are to be as luxurious as possible, and any whim of hers is to be met with all possible haste.

After all, she's the future, isn't she?

[right][sub]Art property of cyancapsule. I claim no credit for or ownership of the character, art, etc.[/sub][/right]