Its twins!

I finished checking the cows this morning about 8:30. I was in the shop and travis was helping me get the radiator back in the Versatile when my phone rang, it was 10:30. It was bud, one of the guys who sold me the cows, and he wanted to know when the yellow cow had the calf. I said I had no idea, nothing was going on at 8:30. He had his helper go out to the pasture check on the cow and calf. We talked on the phone for a minute and he said his helper was signaling him to come out and that it looked like something was wrong. Travis and I jumped in the truck and ran over there. The calf was still in the sack and they had helped him get out and momma was cleaning him up so everything was ok. We hung out there for awhile, always fun to watch just after they are born. She was busy taking care of her calf then about an hour later she layed down next to the calf. About 2 minutes later she got back up and low and behold there was another calf. I was excited but of course worried too. We stayed till about 1:30 watching them. She claimed them both, no problem at all. The first calf was a heifer and she nursed right after the second one was born but we waited and waited for the second calf, a bull, to nurse, nosed around all over but never sucked. Went back tonight when nick got here and watched the bull calf but didnt see him nurse. We put momma in the chute and put him on her but he showed no interest. I tried and tried but nothing worked. We finally decided to just wait a while and see what happened. I talked with tom, my top cow advisor, and he said if he isnt nursing we will need to move pretty quickly to keep him going. After about 45 minutes I took him over to the chute and stuck his head in there and he went to town. I guess he had his little belly full earlier because there was no doubt he knew what he was doing. Took a load off our minds wathcing that little guy nurse.
Another good day on the farm.
bill

The heifer.


The bull.

look good only bad news is the heifer wont be able to breed, oh well it will make good t bones ,thanks for the pics

CONGRATS to ALL of You !,,,Around here We think the heafer will be steril since she had a bull for a woomb -mate ,Do you AGREe?, ONLY HAD 1 bull calf born today ,, had a set of twins some 12 yrs back .I JUST love Calving season , Especially when you cant Recall the last calf You had to Pull .........20yrs ago ,fellow that ran toll bridge had triplets AND TOOK THEM TO THE COUNTY FAIR Herford IKE, SPIKE ,AND MIKE .. Blessings ,jim

I guess she is what they call a freemartin so there is about a 90 percent chance she is sterile. I havent thought about any names yet but I'm sure someone will help out with that. They are very playfull and friendly.
bill

I don't know anything about cattle, but would like to know why the heifer will be sterile. Will the bull calf be sterile, too?

At any rate, nice calves. Glad momma took both.

You always hear people talking about the female being a freemartin or sterile but never anything about the male twin.
I wonder if this is because the female has a 90% chance of being totally sterile and the male is very often not totally sterile but rather suffers from reduced fertility.

In my mind neither calf can be viewed as potential breeding stock.

ANYONE care to give us a CORRECT lesson in Biology ?..That is What I have always been told ,And Like Bill mentioned There is a chance it COULD CONCEIVE.., has something to do with testosterone from the bull calf ,,..

Often (about 90% of the time) the male and female calf will share placental membranes or have crossed blood vessels.
The hormones affect the development of the calves making the female part male and the male part female.
While the female has a 90% chance of being totally sterile the male usually only has reduced fertility.
poke here

Golly ,this is Bills post and Glory , ,BUT ,In defense of twins ,,I had a NICE twin Semintal herd Bull whose womb-MATE was a heifer ,he took care of 25 mamas per yr.,Always Done Me Proud for 5 yrs or more....

If the twin calves are the result of a egg spltting at time of conceoption the heifer will be a freemartin and not breed. Had a set of twins heifers born back in 50's. Both were greatshwo animals.
gitrib

they dont look identical, maybe there were two eggs?

Nice pics!Ya never know,the heiffer may be a breeder,if the calf beds were seperated enough they didn't toutch,she may be fine.When she's 15 months or so old have a vet palpate her when he/she's on the farm anyway's,won't cost much.Do beef cattle have the sampe metritis problems related to twinning as Holsteins's do?We usaually end up with some metabolic problem or another when we have twins.Sometimes hardly noticible,sometimes more serious.Thanks again for the pics,pd.

Thanks. Very interesting.

Nice looking calves. I wouldn't be too concerned about the sterile issue, although I do agree it is very possible she is. If they turn out to be nice looking young cattle, try breeding the heifer. Worst that can happen is that it won't work. That's when I'd decide if she was going to go for market or not. Nothing gained if you don't try!

In my dairy barn, I have had heaven knows how many calves. I have had many sets of twins and I always keep the heifers even if their twin is a bull. I try to breed them and if they won't breed after about 3 tries, they end up in my freezer. If they breed, they end up in the barn makin milk! Good to see nice healthy calves. Have fun and good luck! Kippster

Not much downside to freemartin beef heifer- if she's sterile, she'll look more like a bull than a heifer, and will gain like one as well- so if she breeds, all well and good, and if she doesn't, you'll just have another "steer" to eat or sell.

I used to buy some dairy heifer calves at the sale barn, to raise for replacement heifers- since most of the dairymen were keeping their heifers and raising them themselves, if a healthy heifer showed up at the sale barn, there was a good chance it was a freemartin.