It is somewhat uncommon for a cow to have twins, but triplets? Those are rare.
One ranch is home to not one, but two brand new sets!
The Oberle’s cow-calf operation expects to have 1,400 births in a season, but this year has seen a small uptick in numbers. One day, the family was helping deliver what they suspected might be twins, but they were in for another surprise.
According to Kelly Oberle, “When the first one hit the ground, my son went in the back, and we got the second one, and we kind of jokingly said, ‘Let’s go see if there’s a third one,’ and there was a third one.”
That was the second triplet birth that week.
Veterinarian John Campbell says that the winters in Saskatchewan are tough enough on a strong single-birth calf.
“I’ve been a veterinarian for over 30 years and I’ve only seen triplets a handful of times,” Dr. Campbell adds. “So, to have two in the same week, on the same farm, is almost unheard of. Often, they’re a lot smaller and these cold temperatures can wreak havoc on a normal calving, let alone little triplets.”
The calves and their mothers are all doing well. Fortunately, they say that their herd bloodlines tend to be easy calvers.
