Udderly incredible!
Farmer and his girl celebrate triplet calves ... TWICE in 34 years
‘For three calves to survive is rare’
WHEN farmer Joe Collingborn helped one of his heifers deliver triplets, he knew it was a oncein-a-lifetime event.
However, against odds of millions to one, he’s just had the experience for a second time – after a cow from the same herd also gave birth to three healthy offspring.
The first birth was in 1983, when Nugget the cow delivered three calves – a rare phenomenon with a less than one in 100,000 chance. Now, 34 years on, one of Nugget’s descendants has beaten the odds to produce Ninee, Nia and Novet.
Mr Collingborn, 67, who runs Hill End Farm in Brinkworth, Wiltshire, helped deliver two of the calves but the third, bull calf Novet, became stuck.
He called in vet Nick Britten from nearby Malmesbury, and luckily the calf survived the birth on October 29.
He will become a breeding bull while his sisters will join Mr Collingborn’s herd of 100 Holstein Friesian cows.
Mr Collingborn’s daughter Ceri Cryer, 38, now a cheesemaker, was just four years old when the original triplets were born. She said: ‘Dad has mentioned the first set of triplets from time to time – it’s great to be around to see another set.’
Mr Collingborn said: ‘This sort of thing only happens to farmers once in their lifetime. Having done the morning milking, I thought I’d better check a cow that had been waiting a week to calve.’
But when he did an internal check on the cow, called Nell, and found a head and two front legs, something didn’t seem right.
He explained: ‘A bit small, I thought, so I checked for twins and discovered two front legs and a head and soon a second heifer calf was on the floor.
‘I went in again and discovered two more front legs with a head!’
Vet Tom Oxtoby, who works at Mr Britten’s practice, said: ‘ Triplets occur in around every 100,000 calvings. For all three calves to survive is rarer still. I have been in practice 18 years and have possibly calved three sets of triplets.’