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First in my farming career.

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IaGary

Well-known Member
Been at this cow calf thing for 35 years.

This is the first time I had a set of twins that were born, claimed by the cow, and sucked without some kind of struggle. All during a rain storm

I have bottle fed many that the cow never would claim.

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Gary
 
WOW,,,,Your on a roll,,,,,,,and to think just the other day you wanted to sell then cows,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Your going to be on easy street from na on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 
We have had that happen a couple times. Also had one set that one twin would just go through the heard an suckle whichever cow it found. The cows all accepted it.
 
I had an Angus cow lose her first calf and then I got a replacement bull that was no good, four months had gone by and a new bull did the job, she had twin bull calves and mothered them both so well, I never had to touch them. I always felt that her instincts to mother were the result of losing her first calf and having a wait to get rebred.
 
Gary,

I've only been raising cattle for a little over 10 years, so you've got me by a long shot with experience.

I've had two sets of twins. In both cases, both of the twin calves were heifers. The first set was born about 6 or 7 years ago. The momma cow accepted them without any problems. Those twins are still in my herd and produce calves every 11 months like clockwork.

The other momma rejected one of twins. She was just plain mean to it. She'd butt it away, kick it, etc. I bottle fed it for about four or five days. The calf persistently tried to get onto its mother but she wouldn't have it. After about five or six days, the cow had a complete change of heart and accepted the rejected calf. She ended up being a great mother to both of the calves.

Cows. Ya' gotta love 'em.

Tom in TN
 
I've been raising cows for 57 of my 66 years I've yet to have a set that I didnt fool with,seldom have I needed to have the cow raise both. Usually when I've tried the cow has come in open.Today's set were born in 8" of wet snow and currently residing on the kitchen floor. Four days of little sun a lot of snow makes me wonder if there could be life after cows.
 
Sold 15 in January. Down to 32 cows now.

Sure a lot different than handling the 85 I had for 15 or so years.

Still got enough hay for 2 more winters for 30 so we'll see how long they stay.

Gary
 
I remember several sets of twins, cow raised them with no problems.. We used to get old Holsteins, and AI them to Angus or Chianina. When they calved, we would get a dairy calf, so the cow could raise 2. To keep her from rejecting the new calf, we would get cheap perfume and pour on the cow and both calves.. Within a few days, she would take the new calf as hers..
 
My dads uncle had a cow that had triplets one time. We still have the newspaper clipping with him feeding all three of them with a bottle. Must have happened in the 40's or 50's. They all lived and did good.
 
I ve had a few sets and have a set now that was born last fall . This is the first set that has done good , most times atlest one if not both turns out alittle on the scrony side .
 

Hi, Gary, BTDT on cow not taking both calves. You said they were born in the rain, possibly the rain confused the scent and she couldn't decide which one to reject.

Daughter up there is thrilled to see some green in the lawn. She is READY for winter to be over.
Maybe you will be planting in another month. Could plant garden corn here but too wet.

KEH
 
I had an old cow have triplets almost 30 years ago. She didn't really want to have anything to do with any of them, so two got a foster parent. My experience with twins was: if born on pasture the cow took both, if born in confinement the cow only wanted one. There is probably more pasture born twins (where one doesn't make it) than people realize.
 
Wow. In 35 years? First time I ever had one abandon one was 2 years ago. Had 4 sets and one cow walked off on one. Had a problem of another kind 4 years or so ago. Had 2 singles near the same time. Cows were face to face and both claimed the same calf. The real mother wouldn't take the other one. They both stuck tight to that one calf and both fed it all summer. I had an old Holstein here and had to put the other calf on her.
 
I looked over in the neighbor's field one time, and there was a baby shorthorn calf, standing in the driving rain. He didn't have any cows, and I had shorthorns, so obviously one of my calves had gone through the fence. Went and looked at all mine, and everyone was paired up with a calf. We finally figured out that the last of mine to calve must have had twins, and one ended up on the wrong side of the fence. That little thing had finally wandered out of the woods, 3 rainy days after it had been born.

I gave him to the neighbor, who bottle raised him. Named him Esau, from the bible story of Jacob and Esau- Esau was the twin who was cast out of the family. He grew into a nice steer, and eventually was quite tasty.
 
In over 40 years with cattle ,and numerous sets of twins,I only had one cow that could count to two. Twins are mostly bad news.
Joe
 
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