ODDBALL Michael Jackson once planned to open a ‘Heiferland’ ranch to save all British cattle struck down with mad cow disease, it’s been claimed.

The billionaire pop star reportedly wanted to build a bizarre theme park for the infected cows to save them from being destroyed.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a contagious and fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle.

Michael Jackson wanted to adopt cows condemned to death because of BSE

In the late 1980s and 1990s there was a huge outbreak in the UK and to try and stop the spread of the disease around 4.4 million cattle were slaughtered.

The plight of these animals is said to have so deeply concerned animal-lover Jacko he wanted to “adopt” them all and move them to a special ranch – no matter the cost.

The story – reported in the Mirror – highlights the star’s ludicrous attitude to money and goes some way to explain how he left debts of £400m when he died.

Those close to the star told how he spent up to £40m a YEAR funding his bizarre globe-trotting lifestyle.

His business partner Marc Schaffel would be told to deliver of cash in paper bags from fast food joints – which Jacko called his “French fries”.

CASH IN BAGS

Jacko wanted to build a Neverland-style ranch - but for cows

He often told Schaffel: “Bring me some fries, will you? And supersize it.”

The King of Pop also purchased elaborate gifts for his friends, once buying Elizabeth Taylor a bottle of the most expensive perfume in the world costing £75,000.

His staff have also told how he would also sift through catalogues and order every single item on every page.

Schaffel claims the star even went into a sulk in a Las Vegas hotel when they only offered him £40,000 credit.

Cattle being herded aboard a lorry at St. Austell market for slaughter in 1996

The singer reportedly snapped, “Oh forget it” at hotel staff before turning to his children.

“All the kids come over and he hands them each a stack of $10,000 and says, ‘Go out and entertain yourselves for an hour’,” claimed Schaffel.

Following his death, a crack team of accountants and legal experts turned the singer’s finances around and claim to have generated gross earnings exceeding £973million.

The healthy balance was revealed in papers filed at Los Angeles Superior Court by the estate’s executors.