Before I became a Mom ...and knew how much work it would be...I wished for twins. Thankfully, God knew better than I did, and blessed us with one at a time!
In the barn, we can't find much good about twins. Here are some reasons...
-twins are hard on a cow...there's a higher likelihood of complications during birth.
-often times, the cow doesn't clean (she retains the placenta) and then she is prone to an infection.
-twins are often born early, so it catches us off guard
-early calves tend to be small, and have a harder time thriving
-when twins are mixed...a bull and a heifer...the heifer is often sterile, which is useless in a dairy herd
-twins heifers can reproduce...however they are prone to having twins themselves, and then the cycle continues!
These two little ones above were just born this morning. The one on the left was born first, and the second one surprised us awhile later.
This is our third set of twins in the past three months.
The first set was a pair of heifers (the 3rd set of twins born to a Mom who is a twin herself!) Their Mom had a really hard time recovering, but is now doing fine.
The second set was also a pair of heifers, but like I mentioned above, sometimes twin births are complicated, and one did not survive.
This morning's twins are both healthy bull calves, and will be sold.
Cute as they may be, we'll take single calves every time!
I know exactly how you feel about twin calves. We get them now and then too and I prefer single birth for the reasons you mentioned. Congratulations just the same. I had a new heifer calf on Wednesday morning. I was going to put a cow that was almost due in the calving pen but saw her calf hiding behind a bale of hay.
ReplyDeleteHave a good week Alica.
Hugs,
JB
i can surely understand why. well, glad the twins thus far have not been mixed sexed.
ReplyDeleteI always have wanted twin babies (not calves!), but when Gil was little I realized how crazy I was to hope for that. We'll see... Elliott's siblings are a twin and my uncle was a twin, so maybe we'll get twins. I know the first few years will be incredibly hard, but after that it might be kind of fun for us and for them!
ReplyDeleteI have not heard about the twins in calves. I was surprised to see here. Both look very beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI can see why you wouldn't want twin calves. Same as having three lambs or four goats. Too many.
ReplyDeleteThey are lovely though.
God has indeed blessed you. I love cows but I live in the city (Montreal) and only get to see them if I go into a country setting. You have a delightful blog.
ReplyDeleteAlica,
ReplyDeleteWe had 2 first calf heifers ultrasound bred with twins. The first heifers calved a week early. Both calves were born alive, but the second was a dud. The second heifer calved on time and both calves are doing good. She is the perfect little mother. I take a bottle out 3 times a day to supplement the calves.
We don't have very many sets of twins per year on our ranch. Some people have several sets a year and there are beef breeds more prone to twinning.
Good Luck with calving.
We have had 2 sets of twins born in the last month. The first set both bulls but the first one the mother ended up laying on and killed it and we didn't realize she was having a twin and in the morning found that one dead, not sure if it was still born or the very frigid cold night was the reason. The second set we had to have the vet come because the first was backwards and both were already dead and the mother had to be put down too because she just was never able to get up and recover, I hope our twins are done with for awhile. In all the years of twins we only had one set that were both heifers and they were born too early and not alive.
ReplyDeleteLots of challenges working with animals--almost as many and raising children. I hope your little bulls grow big and strong and bring good prices and lots of well wishes for all the moms and babies.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have to say that I just love love love twins. But I'm certainly biased ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness... are you culling the twin-producing mamas?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! They are so hard on the cow and so much work sometimes! We usually try to pull one twin off and either bottle feed or adopt onto a cow that has lost a calf.
ReplyDeleteYep. I much prefer just one or two with my goats. I've heard from a lot of people that our hard winter is the cause of so many multiples.
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