Web posted on: Thursday, December 17, 1998 3:11:06 PM EST

From Correspondent Gloria Hillard

LOS ANGLES (CNN) -- Those Christmas cats and dogs that in previous years have entertained folks with their rendition of "Jingle Bells" are getting some holiday competition from their barnyard friends this year.

You might call it a "mooving" album of Christmas music, with prime cuts from stars like "The Oinkridge Boy," "Rebaaaa Mcentire," and the "Barnyard Carolers." By now you've probably guessed it, this is no ordinary Christmas album.

Listen to a clip of "Deck the Barn" Audio clip: 128k MPEG-3 Audio clip: 175k WAV (Courtesy Rompin' Records)

It's called "Barnyard Country Christmas," a collection of farm friends who chirp, cluck, oink, baaa, mooo and whinny Christmas tunes. The producer, Guy Maeda, had his pick of the litter when it came time to assemble his ensemble.

"Pigs are great," he says, "because they have a short note." And cows, he says, are "pitchy," which must be a good thing since they figure prominently on the album.

These porcine and bovine crooners are joined by the horses, as well as some of the more fowl members of the chorus - ducks and chickens, that is.

When Maeda isn't breaking new ground with his animal friends, he specializes in "easy listening music." But there's nothing easy about coordinating a chorus of animal sounds to create a recognizable holiday tune. "You must mainly be patient," he says.

And get an early start. According to Maeda, timing is everything.

"Early in the morning when they get hungry it's a chorus," he says. But later, at the studio, it takes a little coaxing to get those individual performances from such wonders as Oscar the singing dog and Ethyl the Diva duck.

So for those who didn't think the animals could talk, here's a special message: they not only talk, they sing. And their wishing you a very dairy -- er, merry -- Christmas.