Holy cow! Rare red bovine sold for $1 million

Apple was certainly the apple of someone’s eye. The cow was sold for $1 million Monday at an auction in Litchfield, Conn.

When the 4-year-old show cow paraded in front of 800 onlookers down the runway at Arethusa Farm, bidding started at $200,000.

A small group of partners from Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin placed the winning bid. The reason for the steep price tag is her genes, her breeding potential and her rare red color.

"She has the ability now to make black and white daughters or red and white daughters that could sell. In fact we sold five daughters of her yesterday as well, separately,” Terri Packard, manager of Arethusa Farm, said.

The 5-month-old calves sold for as much as $160,000.

“So her pedigree and her physical structure are what make her very marketable and the fact that she's red is the icing on the cake," Packard said.

Apple went to Wisconsin Wednesday to get back to work as a milking cow and embryo producer. That is how her new owners hope the investment pays off.

Representatives of the farm said Apple could be the most expensive cow ever sold in United States.