The Nation: Bum Steer

The overall grand champion of this year's prestigious National Western Stock Show in Denver was a gleaming 1,200-lb. Aberdeen Angus steer named Big Mac. His name alone was enough to attract the owners of a group of McDonald's hamburger franchises around Denver. They paid $14,250 for the black steer, planning to use him to promote the McDonald's superburger also known as Big Mac.

It is now a local joke among Denver cattlemen that the steer should have been named after a rival chain's hamburger, the Whopper. It seems that Big Mac may actually be a white Charolais steer named Jeep. It also appears that he was dyed black for the show, for which the Charolais breed is not eligible, and entered as an Angus. A previous owner of the animal, which was reported to have died last November of hardware sickness (from eating metal, like barbed wire), spotted Big Mac at the show and declared him "the spitting image of Jeep, except that he's black instead of white."

With a protest lodged, the $200 prize money was withheld, and the $14,250 sale was halted. For the moment Big Mac—or Jeep, or whatever it is—was settled on a suburban farm, turning whiter and whiter by the day.