Cow seller's case of mistaken identity milked for all it's worth

A university student became the centre of a hilarious case of mis-steak-en identity when an online advertisement listing a cow for sale incorrectly shared his phone number as the seller's contact.

Shannon Barbour said he was heading to bed in the early hours of Friday morning, when he received a message inquiring about a heifer for sale.

The 19-year-old from Charlottesville, Virginia, in the US, said he didn't even know what a heifer was - let alone had one for sale.

The confused teen said he went to bed not thinking much of the message, but was woken early the next morning to a string of phone calls and text messages, which "ruined" his day.

The advertisement, which has since been removed, listed a scruffy black "heffer" for $50.

The anonymous post misspelled the a type of cow - a young female cow that has not yet given birth.

"Selling a black heffer [sic] who likes to go by boo boo," the listing stated.

"Need her gone ASAP. Relocating and she can’t come with. She’s well trained and does the job well."

Seeing the funny side, Mr Barbour tweeted a screen shot of some of the conversations with interested buyers.
"This has been the worst morning of my life," he wrote.

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Mr Barbour later told BuzzFeed News he had a suspicion he could have been victim of a prank by a mate, given the asking price was cheaper than a couple of steaks.

"Fifty dollars for a whole cow is kind of suspicious," he said.

He appeared to have no beef about the advertisement, as he began to respond to text inquiries saying he had either put the bovine down, or made a meal out of it.

Mr Barbour said despite the annoying early morning text messages, “this whole situation is hilarious to me,” he told The Observer.