All about twins

[Sir Loin]

If a cow has twins, is she more likely to have another set of twins then any other cow?

Do you consider twins to be desirable or undesirable? And why?
SL

 

[Jogeephus]

In my opinion, its a mixed blessing. If you got a jam up mamma and she rebreeds on time - twins will do wonders for the average weaning weight. Otherwise, I'd prefer not to have em.

 

[Keren]

A poll hereford breeder I used to work for had this monster of a cow that had twins four years running. I'm not really in contact with them any more so I don't know if she's kept it up or not. All of them were heifers, and they were always bigger than any of the other calves.

 

[mdmdogs3]

We've been on a run with twins this year (3 diff cows and 2 diff bulls)

1st cow - 1 heifer / 1 bull - coyote or dogs got the bull - the heifer would be a replacement if not for freemartin issue
2nd cow - 2 heifers - first one little but doing great, other one underdeveloped and really small (born dead)
3rd cow - 1 heifer / 1 bull - both quite big and born dead - second one was backwards
each of these cows are experienced mothers that have never had problems before

so no, I'm not a big fan of twins!

 

[msscamp]

If a cow has twins, is she more likely to have another set of twins then any other cow?

I've read a lot of articles, and heard a lot of people answer this question with a "Yes" but, we've had a number of twins over the years, and I can't think of single cow who twinned more than once.

Do you consider twins to be desirable or undesirable? And why?
SL

I wouldn't want a whole pasture full of twins, but I've always thought it was kind of neat when a cow had twins - the odds against it are pretty steep. I'm not going to say why - Frenchie will likely throttle me! :lol: :lol:

 

[Sir Loin]

Here's an interesting take on it from NZ.

But there are also "natural" twins where no hormone treatment is involved. This is natural twinning - and some rare cows have twins regularly in their lives. So there is a genetic ability here. Twinning in cows is not very strongly inherited we think as their daughters don't regularly produce twins. So it's been very hard to breed for a twinning herd although there is one at Ruakura which is making slow progress. Dr Chris Morris has collected twinning cows from all over New Zealand and he has made positive but slow progress.

Source: http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/article ... _twins.htm

 

[preston39]

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/courses/as ... index.html

 

[msscamp]

Here's an interesting take on it from NZ.

But there are also "natural" twins where no hormone treatment is involved. This is natural twinning - and some rare cows have twins regularly in their lives. So there is a genetic ability here. Twinning in cows is not very strongly inherited we think as their daughters don't regularly produce twins. So it's been very hard to breed for a twinning herd although there is one at Ruakura which is making slow progress. Dr Chris Morris has collected twinning cows from all over New Zealand and he has made positive but slow progress.

Source: http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/article ... _twins.htm

I don't know if he is still doing it or not, but there was a man in Nebraska that selected his cows based on their twinning ability. According to the last article I read(and it's been probably a year - maybe longer) he had quite a lot of twins running around.

 

[BlackBaldyMan]

Most of the time when (angus X cows) we have twins, they are pretty small and undersirable, but the mothers will usually be able to keep milk up unless they are heifers. One good thing is if you loose a calf on another cow, its nice to have a twin to throw on her

 

[nrs farm]

Here's an interesting take on it from NZ.

But there are also "natural" twins where no hormone treatment is involved. This is natural twinning - and some rare cows have twins regularly in their lives. So there is a genetic ability here. Twinning in cows is not very strongly inherited we think as their daughters don't regularly produce twins. So it's been very hard to breed for a twinning herd although there is one at Ruakura which is making slow progress. Dr Chris Morris has collected twinning cows from all over New Zealand and he has made positive but slow progress.

Source: http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/article ... _twins.htm

Even more interesting to me was the first sentence:

Twins in cattle are not common- about 1 set in every 4000 births.

I think I easily exceeded the 1 in 4000. Mine is closer to 1 in 50 it seems.

 

[sidney411]

In 5 years and over 400 births we have only had 2 sets of twins, but to different cows with no history of twins and no twins since then either. One we bottle fed, one was grafted to another cow who lost her calf. I have one cow how was a twin and has never had a set of twins herself.

 

[mnmtranching]

I get one set in 50. I had one cow, had 5 sets in her lifetime. Some of her heifers have also had twins. Seems like twins is a genetic thing. I have two good doing sets right now. One steer calf as far as I can tell doesn't nurse it's mother, but free loads whenever it gets a chance. I've noticed when a calf is nursing it will sneak in between her legs. Sometimes it works sometimes not.
It's not doing as well as the other calves, but so far ok. Most of the time I end up bottle feeding the weaker one.

 

[holly heifer]

Had twins last night- difficult birth, first one was breech
however both are alive. The cow is NOT a good mother and pays no attention to either calf. The stronger one has been
nursing her( She will be kept up in paddock until calf really
takes off.) The other one is ( unfortunately) a bottle calf.
Mom has been tagged for the sale barn after her calf is weaned. If the calf has to be taken from her, she leaves
even sooner! :roll:

 

[Joy in Texas]

A few years ago we had sisters cows that had twins every other year. Each cow would raise both babies. So as far as having to take care of the calves wasn't a problem.
A few weeks ago we had the first set of twins out of a 12 yr. old cow. She took the bull calf,but not the heifer. The heifer took a ride. She would not suck a bottle and the cow she was nursing on kicked her off. So I figure a 140 bucks is better than messing with her.

 

[Texas Ranch Man]

I have one set of Twin Bull Calves on a 1st Calf Heifer, she is raising them, but they keep her bag sucked down pretty good.

 

[donnaIL]

If a cow has twins, is she more likely to have another set of twins then any other cow?

I should have been paying closer attention when I bought a 3 year old cow 3 years ago. There was a herd dispersal sale and when several of the cow went through they announced "this one had twins the last 3 years and raised them all" , "this is a set of pregnant twins" etc....
Bought the cow, she has had 2 sets of twins and 1 single birth in the last 3 years.

First twins were dead, the last set born this March--she sorta went "crazy" after she had them and couldn't decide which one to take care of and so now we are bottle feeding 2 calves.

So IMO "yes" at least in this case...and the experience with twins has been the pitts.
Donna

 

[paul swisher]

A few years ago we had 5 sets of twins. Felt they are more trouble than they are worth. End up bottle feeding one of 3 sets only had 2 where moma took both. Because of this I did some research on twins. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) has a twinning herd. It is passed on sire to daughters. Those that twin will more in likely twin again and again. They sold twinng bulls in their last dispersal sale for over $3000 each, one was around $4000. They did not identify the bulls other than twinning but one sure looked like a Simmental and the other a Pinzgauer. They even have a Predicted Breeeding Value, like an EPD, with over 50% daughters having twins. Some breeds are more likely to twin than others. Their twinning herd consist of Holstein, Simmental, Charolais, Brown Swiss, Pinzgauer, Gelbveih, Swedish Fresian, Norweigan Red, Short Horn, Herefore, Angus, Swedish Red and White. They are nice if you have lots of extra time and money to bottle feed. It is a cute sight 2 babies one one moma but you can see that with out twins get an orphan.

 

[Sir Loin]

Preston 39,

Thanks! I knew it had to exist somewhere, I just couldn't find it.
That will take some time to digest, but all the answers seem to be there.
SL

 

[BAGTIC]

My tenant runs 25-30 head here. Except for one hereford and a couple of baldies they have all been commercial 'angus'.

In the past two years there have been three sets of twins and the mothers raised them all without help. One set last year may have been the largest calves of the herd at 6 months.

 

[BAGTIC]

All cows may not be able to handle twins but some can. If someone could breed cows that could handle twins in stride it would considerably improve the economics of the beef industry.

After all look at the improvements in dairy cattle over the years. Modern dairy cattle are twice as productive as they were 50 years ago. Beef cattle can't claim anything close to that. Even upping the avergae calving ratio from 1:1 to 1:1.3 would be probably increase profits more than all the other criteria that beef ranchers now use to rate productivity.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1