One calf, two calves... wait, there’s a third
AN Anglesey beef farmer was left dumbfounded when one of his cows gave birth to triplets.
Cennydd Lewis Owen was expecting his British Blue cross calver to produce twins and had disappeared for lunch after the first two were born.
But when he checked on them later, at Cefn Du Isaf, Gaerwen, the cow produced a third. All three were heifers
According to US experts, the odds of female triplets are one in 700,000.
“I would have been happy with one,” said Cennydd, whose wife Manon is a producer of S4C’s Rownd a Rownd youth soap. “To get three was a hell of a shock.” Cennydd said a number of local breeders had since visited the farm as none had ever seen triplets before.
“To get three, you might have expected the calves to be the size of kittens. But they’re all a good size and in good health,” he said.
“It makes you wonder what would have happened if the mother had just a single – it would have been the size of an elephant!”
Mr Owen, who also farms in partnership with mum Dilys, runs the 20-head Bodwyn herd of pedigree Hereford cows and around 40 Hereford crosses.
It was Loose Cannon, one of their stock Hereford bulls, that fired out the triplet bullet.
The mother, scanned for twins, had been given extra feed and her own space in a shed in the final two months of her pregnancy.
“She began calving at midday,” said Cennydd. “I pulled the first two and went to lunch because I thought that was it.
“Around 2pm I went check the calves were suckling properly when the cow went down again, flat on the floor. Suddenly I saw another pair of feet sticking out.
“She got up again to allow me to help – the calf was back to front – and before I knew it a third one had arrived.
“Just imagine if the three calves had been welded together – the combined size would have been massive.”
The triplets are not the only new arrivals on the farm. Two months ago Cennydd and Manon had their first child, son Llew, whose birth followed seven years of dashed hopes and heartbreak.
“Between the calves and the baby, we’ve now got our hands full,” he said.
“But even if I don’t have a blade of grass on the farm this year I’ll be thankful and happy with what we’ve got.”
Rather than be sold as sucklers, the lucky trio will be put to the bull and retained on the farm.
“I’m so proud of them, I’d like to see them live out their lives here,” said Cennydd.
“We’ll need to keep an eye on their mother to see how she manages but at the moment she’s coping spot on.”