MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Cuban agriculture officials like the 74 Holstein and Jersey heifers they got from Vermont in August so much that they want more, Vermont Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr says.

Kerr said more than 100 Vermont cows are expected to be in the mix of some 300 from the Northeast that the Cuban government is likely to order this week.

“Little Debbie,” a Jersey heifer that was a gift from the Putney School to the people of Cuba, as well as a Holstein from the school, are being displayed outside a pavilion at this week’s Havana Trade Fair.

Little Debbie recently gave birth to a bull, her first calf.

John Park Wright IV, a Florida businessman who has a U.S. government license to deal with Cuba, brokered the first shipment of Vermont cows to the Caribbean nation and is handling the new deal as well, Kerr said.

Jerseys, Brown Swiss and Holsteins from Vermont will be included under the new agreement, Kerr said. He added that Cuban inspectors are expected to travel to Vermont this winter to pick out the animals.

Wright will negotiate the price of the cows with individual farmers. Kerr said the average for the last load was $2,100, but milk prices are beginning to decline, and livestock prices may follow suit.

“I don’t have a clue,” Kerr said of the prices the new round of animals might fetch. “It’s whatever the market will bear.”

Kerr said the fact that the two Vermont cows were being displayed outside the trade pavilion was a sign that the Cubans value the Vermont animals.

“The two cows are from Vermont and we’re very proud and the Putney School should be very proud,” Kerr said.

Aside from cows, Cuba last year said it would buy powdered milk and 4,000 bushels of Vermont apples. The apple sale has been stalled because Cuban inspectors have run into trouble getting visas from the U.S. State Department.

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Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/

AP-ES-10-31-05 0705EST