"A calf was born in a dairy barn in the Jordan Valley last week, and on Rosh Chodesh Elul, a delegation of rabbis stood over her, running their hands through her coat. She was the third heifer of her kind to be born in Israel this season, joining two others already under watch in the Galilee and the Golan Heights. Together, the three calves represent the most concrete progress yet toward a goal Jewish tradition has pursued since the destruction of the Second Temple: raising a red heifer whose ashes can restore ritual purity to the Jewish people."
"The third and newest heifer was born only last week in a dairy barn in the Jordan Valley, at Shadmot Mechola, an agricultural community founded in 1984 on the northern stretch of the valley. Her birth is, on its face, the most improbable of the three. She was born to a light-colored cow sired by a black bull, a combination that would ordinarily not be expected to produce a solid red calf."
"Yakir, who manages the calf department at Shadmot Mechola, described the delivery himself. “Usually, the cows give birth on their own, but in this case I had to assist her,” he said. “During the delivery, I suddenly saw a calf with a reddish color. It was remarkable, since she was born to a light-colored cow and a black bull. I immediately called the supervising rabbi to receive instructions.”
"None of the three calves born this season are yet old enough to serve their purpose. Jewish law requires a red heifer to be at least two years old before her ashes can be prepared, and each animal must maintain her unblemished status without interruption until that day arrives. What changed this season is not that the requirement became easier to meet. It is that, for the first time in living memory, three candidates are being raised toward that requirement at once, on three different farms, in three different regions of the same land their ancestors were exiled from two thousand years ago."
FULL STORY at above link.