Business Notes HOOFWEAR

No Sloane Ranger would consider her wardrobe complete without a pair. Members of the hunting-and-fishing set are rarely seen in any other footwear. This insignia of English country life, the Hunter Wellington boot, has now made an unusual crossover: into the cow shed.

Cornish farmer Stephen Angwin had been troubled by the number of hobbling heifers among his herd of Friesian cattle. The high-protein diet required by modern dairy farming stimulates extra growth in the hooves, making them vulnerable to cracking during the cows' winter confinement in concrete-floored farmyards. So Angwin called up the Gates Rubber Co. in Scotland, maker of the chic Wellies, which designed a buckled, foot-high Hobble Boot with a sole in the shape of a hoof. Angwin has ordered 500 boots at $24 each, and estimates he will save roughly $1,800 a year on veterinary bills and lost milk production. His enthusiasm for the bovine booties is so keen that he has sold over 100 of them to fellow farmers.

The cows, after some initial doubts and kicks, seem happy with their new hoofwear. Will a Burberry's mackintosh be the next trendy garment for the pasture?