Strong start | Heifer and two bull calves each weighed 70 pounds
Calving season is going well on the Shadow Ranch Hutterite Colony east of Carmangay, Alta.
With 500 cows to calve out this spring, seven sets of twins and one set of triplets have made their appearance.
It was the first set of triplets that cattle boss Carl Hofer has seen in his years at the colony. The Maine-Anjou-Angus cross cow calved one day short of its due date March 13, providing a nice surprise for Hofer.
“She put the first one out on her own and it was -10 C, so we brought her in the barn with the calf and we went home for supper. Two hours later I came down and she had another one in the barn.”
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However, the cow was still straining so Hofer and his wife put it in the chute, where they discovered a third calf inside but backward.
They straightened the calf’s feet and pulled it out but had to clear mucus and work on the calf for about 10 minutes before it revived.
The heifer and two bull calves each weighed 70 pounds, which pleased Hofer. Triplets are usually smaller.
“All three of them look like their mother,” he said.
“She’s a nice old cow. I figure she’s 20 years old and she’s a very tame cow. You know, I wanted to cull that cow when we preg checked because she was limping. It’s a good thing you don’t go with your first instincts all the time.”
The colony is now considerably ahead on its calving percentage and Hofer is hopeful for an excellent calving season if recent warm weather holds.
“We’ve never had a start like this, in the last six or seven years that we’ve been calving out.”
