Speckles of joy when triplets arrive on stud
THINK your cattle are productive?
Try this cow for size. Black Diamond Speckle Park Stud’s Waratah Ember L123 calved out triplet females.
In one hit, she created 57 kilos of calf.
The odds of all female triplets are 700,000 to one, according to third generation stud breeder Murray Van der Drift.
“We were pretty surprised to see them,” he said.
Based near Macorna, in far northern Victoria, they have been enduring a tough season, so the trio has brought the family some good news.
“My dad has seen triplets before,” he said.
“But one was a still born. I didn’t realise how rare it was for them all to be female.”
Super mum, Waratah Ember, is doing well.
“She has dropped in condition, given the season we have had, and the fact she is raising three, but overall she is doing well,” he said.
For her health, one of the calves will be raised by a commercial cow, who has lost her calf earlier this season.
There is some debate among the family whether or not the triplets are identical.
They don’t think this argument will be settled until the heifers are of weaner age.
“They are carrying very similar markings, we will wait for them to grow out a bit more before we will know if they are all from the same embryo or from multiple embryos.”
They were conceived through artificial insemination, using a semen stray from JSF Yogi Goes Redneck.