Rare quadruplet calves

john in la · Mar 20, 2015

I could use some of this genetics in my cows.

Den N Ms · Mar 20, 2015

Well at least Mama has enough spickets to go around!
A 4 to 1 herd increase.

JMS/.MN · Mar 20, 2015

With three of the calves being heifers, it will be interesting to see how many are Freemartins, where the testosterone of the developing male calf influences the reproductive tract of the female, rendering them sterile in about 85% of the cases.

In 30 years of dairying, we had quite a few twins, and two sets of triplets. Triplet survival was poor, and with any multiple birth, it was hard on the cow"s production. Much better to have a healthy and hearty single.

john in la · Mar 20, 2015

It was 3 bulls and 1 heifer.
With that kind of ratio you can bet money the 1 heifer is a freemartin.

Even the calves (twins) seem to me to do poorer.
I have had a few twin heifers when I raised springer's. Never knew how it affected the mothers milk production that year but the calves just did not seem to be up to par.
I mean I still got them up to weight and calving at 24 months but they just seemed to get a slower than normal start.
Then again it might have just been me judging them unfairly.

dgasper · Mar 20, 2015

Not exactly cows or quads but friends of ours with 18 month old twins just found out they're pregnant again - with twins.

Brady V · Mar 20, 2015

Pretty neat. I thought I thought I was having a crazy day yesterday, only had 4 three yr olds calve, but 3 of them had twins. Taking care of them sure cut into the amount of plowing I got done the last two days.

bison · Mar 21, 2015

Neat for the occasion.
Be glad that it the exception and not the norm or beef would be worthless

jeffcat · Mar 21, 2015

Up on our farm we had twin heffers one time. Holstens and one was mostly white and the other was mostly black. You bet we named them Salt and Pepper. Well later that summer they are both getting along fine till there were a couple of really hot august days. Came out one afternoon and Pepper had just keeled over.

Nebraska Cowman · Mar 21, 2015

I would not say "worthless". It would entirely change the dynamics of the industry though. It would require a lot less cows to meet the market but calving would have to be monitored a whole lot closer if you were to save them all.
Probably what would happen is all the multiple birth cattle would die out and all we would have left is the ones that raise one live calf by herself.

Dick2 · Mar 21, 2015

Is the cow going to get a 3-year rest now? Just asking.

john in la · Mar 21, 2015

I do not think multiple birth cattle would die out if that is what we wanted.

Just look a pig litter size now compared to 30 years ago. You can get more pigs to market on the same feed; vet cost; house size; just by increasing litter size.

Single birth cattle will be the norm as long as we have enough land to keep them outside on cheap grass.
Let there ever become a time when we move beef cattle inside and micro manage them like we do chickens; pigs; dairy cows; and you will see a push for multiple births.

Mike (WA) · Mar 21, 2015

I remember seeing a pen at the fair when I was a kid- mama Holstein and quadruplet calves. The neat part was, she was a top producing cow with great genetics, and the calves were all heifers.

rrlund · Mar 21, 2015

I need it to make up the loss. Two weeks ago one aborted,then this morning I found one that laid on the edge of a manure pack last night and had her feet in the air dead.

Donald Lehman · Mar 21, 2015

Man, diary farmers HATE to see multiple births. Even twins generally mean lower milk production for the mother that year, and possibly breed back problems. The calves are smaller, which means they are next to worthless at the sale barn. Plus the freemartn problem to boot.

rrlund · Mar 21, 2015

A guy south of town here raised registered Holsteins. They had a set of triplet heifers born one time. Their hired man at the time was married to a woman who was one of triplet sisters. They named the calves after those three sisters.

Nebraska Cowman · Mar 21, 2015

Exactly, yes, we could breed for multiple birth traits. But you would also have to breed for increased milk production or figure on supplementing the calves. Not saying it can't or won't happen, just not the way things are currently managed. Even twins are at risk that the mother will only take care of one of them. That's why I said the trait would die out which it has.

Mike (WA) · Mar 21, 2015

And then there was the time dad bought a really nice Jersey cow. She was really pretty- great color, head shaped right, everything. Dad named her after neighbor's wife- he thought it was a compliment to her, but she, well, not so much. Her husband just thought it was funny, and that didn't help matters. She ended up mad at both of them. I'm just glad I was too young to really understand what was going on, so didn't jump in with both jaws flapping and get us all in even more trouble.

Pair-a-dice farm · Mar 21, 2015

That is really rare. I had a neighbor that had a cow have quadruplets about 30 years ago but only 2 survived. I've had 1 set of twins this year so far out of 10 but only saved 1 of the twins. I personally don't like twins because of the extra trouble. There are probably a lot more twins born than most know because the cow will leave the 1st one born.

JMS/.MN · Mar 21, 2015

Yeah- I misread that, the first couple of times!

Rare quadruplet calves

john in la

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Den N Ms

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JMS/.MN

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john in la

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dgasper

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Brady V

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bison

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jeffcat

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Nebraska Cowman

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Dick2

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john in la

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Mike (WA)

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rrlund

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Donald Lehman

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rrlund

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Nebraska Cowman

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Mike (WA)

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