Not one but three

[magpie]

Just out of curiosity how rare is it to have cow give birth to triplets? Any numbers? We have one that had twins last year and now triplets.

[rusty1]

It's genetic so you better keep her and her heifers (if there wasn't BSE). However any heifers born with a bull calf will be infertile.

[frustrated1]

We had a set of triplets last year. The second 2 were tangled so I lost one but the other 2 did well. As far as I know that was the first set on this farm in it's hundred year history.

[ALICIA]

Your cows are tying to help you out.

[15444]

My next door neighbour always averaged about two pairs of twins every year out of two particular cows. This year though, I think they are on either their fifth or sixth pair. They lost a couple of pairs to malpresentations and not being there, but I told the neighbour's wife that if they keep on going, their cows might give them close to a 200% calf crop this year! Have never seen or heard of one herd giving so many multiples in one year!

[cowman]

My cousin has a purebred Simmental herd of 150 cows. They routinely get 15-20 sets of twins a year and had one set of triplets last year, one set about ten years ago. I think certain strains of Simmentals are prone to twins more than other breeds?