Local cow produces triplets

This time around, three was the lucky number.

Dick Taylor, full-time auctioneer and part-time cattle owner, never expected his Charolais cow to produce not one, not two, but three healthy calves at 3 a.m. April 9.

"[Cows] like to have their calves when it's most inconvenient," said Robin Taylor, wife of Dick Taylor and coordinator for Student Involvement.

Bruce Lane, regional livestock specialist for the University of Missouri Extension, said little research exists specifically about multiple births among cattle.

Triplet births in beef cattle averaged one in 105,000 births, according to The Cow Calf newsletter.

"It's pretty unusual for a cow to have triplets," Lane said. "Cows usually don't have litters."

Dick Taylor said he owns about 50 cows, and 25 calves were born this past spring. The part-time cattle farmer is a self-employed auctioneer who specializes in selling farm equipment. He said his farm runs a commercial operation and sells the cattle for food.

Robin Taylor said her husband woke early April 9 to check on the cow and discovered three calves in the glare of his headlights.

Robin Taylor said the three Taylor girls quickly named the calves. They named the male calf Lucky, and the two female calves are Emma and Hannah.

Dick Taylor said that when he checked on the cows later that day, he discovered the mother cow was only caring for and feeding the male calf. He brought the two female calves from the pasture to a three-walled grey enclosure near the house to facilitate the initial thrice-daily feeding.

"They are the most aggressive set of calves we have ever had," Dick Taylor said.

Robin Taylor said her husband almost sold the mother because she missed her initial January birthing date and hadn't produced any calves in two years.

She said Dick Taylor was preparing to load the cow when he realized she was pregnant. Robin Taylor said the cow didn't look pregnant and her size did not suggest she was going to have multiple calves.

Dick Taylor said he has received some recognition for being the owner of a healthy set of triplets.

He said some people have referred to him as the "three-calf guy."

The Taylors said despite their children's attachment to the cows, they will eventually be sold like every other cow that comes through the Taylor family farm.

The whole family has helped to feed the two female calves, but either she or her husband manages the feeding of the male calf, Robin Taylor said.

"They are very strong and want to eat," Robin Taylor said. "They are very big for being triplets, as well."

The Taylor family feeds the two females twice daily with a milk replacer out of a bucket. That didn't stop the calves, however, from hastily slurping every last drop of food out of the bucket and off Robin Taylor's fingers.

The calves compete with the two family dogs, Jackson and Patches, who aren't afraid to eat the calves' dinner if they don't get to the food first.

Dick Taylor said they were initially bottle fed three times a day. He said they will be placed on a diet consisting of hay and grain within the next couple of weeks and will move out to pasture during the summer.

Susan Guffey, assistant professor of biology, said that when a cow has twins and one is a male and the other is female, the female is infertile in about 95 percent of the cases.

She said the female twin could be referred to as a freemartin. Guffey said the situation does not apply when a pair of males or a pair of females is born.

"Sheep have twins just fine, and dogs and cats have multiple litters just fine," Guffey said. "It's just an event that happens in cattle."

Lane said female calves born on the Taylor farm tend to be freemartins because male hormones sometimes transfer to the female calves while they are in the placenta, but fertility tests would need to be taken to determine the triplets' fertility.