Russell Koch has had eight sets of twins in his cow herd this spring. He has only 15 cows.
“It’s very uncommon to have that many in such a small herd,” Koch said last week from his farm in the central Saskatchewan Rural Municipality of Viscount.
The veterinarian in nearby Humboldt says twins occur in about one in every 200 births, said Koch, so his herd is well ahead of the average.
Four more cows have yet to calve and he thinks at least one of them will have twins, judging by her size and the fact that she has had twins twice before.
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None of Koch’s neighbours has seen a similar increase in twinning this year and he is at a loss to explain his good fortune in rapidly expanding herd size.
“I never did anything different. Same bulls.”
The cows have all calved without assistance, with two calf losses and some bottle feeding required.
Koch is now hoping weather will promote grass growth so the cows can graze and increase their milk production.
Though sometimes one calf is better than twins in terms of calf size and relative health, Koch is happy with his calving season so far.
“As long as the cow’s got lots of milk and they get good grass, the twins come along pretty good,” he said.
