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Anonymous

Hi,

One of my dad's cows about 5 days aga had twins. They both seem healthy except that one of the cows spends most of the time alone by himself. He lays in the grass a couple of hundred yards away from the others who are in an open area. At night, he goes to his mom and seems to milk. My dad has brought the cow back to his/her mother, but goes back after some time. I just thought it was strange for the calf to do this. My dad only has about a dozen cows.

Thanks

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We had a set of twins this year and had the same thing. The one that stays seperate is doing fine and now sneaks meals from any cow that will let him get a meal. At first he was grwoing a little slower then the other but has since caught up. As long as he is getting enough groceries and the cow claimes him I wouldn't be too concerned. It took a couple of weeks for ours to start acting more like the others. They are now 3 1/2 months.

dunmovin farms

> Hi,

> One of my dad's cows about 5 days
> aga had twins. They both seem
> healthy except that one of the
> cows spends most of the time alone
> by himself. He lays in the grass a
> couple of hundred yards away from
> the others who are in an open
> area. At night, he goes to his mom
> and seems to milk. My dad has
> brought the cow back to his/her
> mother, but goes back after some
> time. I just thought it was
> strange for the calf to do this.
> My dad only has about a dozen
> cows.

> Thanks
 
Hey Dun…

I ask this knowing your opinion of twins – a beautiful sight as long as they're not on your place. Ha.

I'm curious about what you plan on doing with the momma after the calves wean. With fairly high odds of her twinning again, are you going to sell her or take another chance? With all the postings on twins there must be something in the water this year.

Craig
 
We gave this subject a lot of thought before breeding season. There are herds that have selected for twins and still don't get the majority of twins each year. She really surprised us, she raised both calves and still remained in good enough condition that she was cycling. While I was breeding her my wife kept telling her only one, ONLY ONE. When we preg check this fall we will make a point of checking her for twins, If she has twins we'll find one of tha places that is looking to buy twinners. If she has a single, we'll feed her a little extra this winter to get her in better condition for spring calving. She is one of our F1 Red Angus X Gelbvieh so I have extras interest in keeping her. She always looks like she's dried off becasue of the drain she has had, she has milk and plenty of it, but I think part of the reason is because the "Snack Masters" have found that when she's out of milk, they can always find someone feeding a valf that doesn't notice an extra coming over for a snack. Time will tell. When we tagged calves we tagged her heifer in the right ear so she3 just goes with the rest of the boys come sale time.

dunmovin farms

> Hey Dun…

> I ask this knowing your opinion of
> twins – a beautiful sight as long
> as they're not on your place. Ha.

> I'm curious about what you plan on
> doing with the momma after the
> calves wean. With fairly high odds
> of her twinning again, are you
> going to sell her or take another
> chance? With all the postings on
> twins there must be something in
> the water this year.

> Craig
 
That's what I figured you'd say and I don't have a convincing answer against it. It seems like you could make a good argument on either side, to keep or not to keep. Of course, lots of things look good on paper…

Ours twins are doing great but it's taking a toll on the cow – she was sleek when she dropped them but now she might pass for a breaker. We stole her out of the ring, 4 years old and bred 6 or 7 months. Maybe she twinned before and the seller didn't like it. It will be interesting to see how she bounces back when we take them off her. That will be a big part of the answer for me and I suspect she'll take a one way trip to town.

But on the other hand, these two calves will way more than pay for her. In reading your response it's obvious yours has twinned at least once before. Have you ever run the numbers to compare her performance against the average per-head revenue on your herd?

Craig
 
She has never even calved before let alone twinned. The ranch we got her from has never had a twin in her Glebvieh herd in 20 some odd years. She had been having very weak heats until the heat we bred her on, it was one of those, jump on everything that moves or standstill kind of heats.

dunmovin farms

> That's what I figured you'd say
> and I don't have a convincing
> answer against it. It seems like
> you could make a good argument on
> either side, to keep or not to
> keep. Of course, lots of things
> look good on paper…

> Ours twins are doing great but
> it's taking a toll on the cow –
> she was sleek when she dropped
> them but now she might pass for a
> breaker. We stole her out of the
> ring, 4 years old and bred 6 or 7
> months. Maybe she twinned before
> and the seller didn't like it. It
> will be interesting to see how she
> bounces back when we take them off
> her. That will be a big part of
> the answer for me and I suspect
> she'll take a one way trip to
> town.

> But on the other hand, these two
> calves will way more than pay for
> her. In reading your response it's
> obvious yours has twinned at least
> once before. Have you ever run the
> numbers to compare her performance
> against the average per-head
> revenue on your herd?

> Craig
 
My dad has had twins a couple of times on his place, and never from the same cow. Last year, Mama #114 had a pair of twins, this year a fine heifer. Had never had twins before 2001, so I don't know that twinning cows keep throwing twins.... excuse me for butting in.

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Cows that twin and their female offspring (the ones that aren't Freemartins) do have a slightly higher rate of twinning on subsequent calvings. But, (there is always a but(t)), even in herds that have genetically selected for twinning the insodence is only around 60% or so. However, (there is frequently a however too), some cows repetitively twin and their daughters will have the same likelyhood. That is the reason the herds that purchase outside cows for thei twinning herds want those that have twinned at least twice. I suppose if you had a herd of cows that regularly twinned you could basicly run two herds, that way you could feed the required supplements to the twinner cows and not to those that had singles. You would have to move the cows from herd to herd based on how the calved each year but when they get preg checked you could move them at that time and give those carrying twins added nutrition. Sounds like a pain in the donkey to me. I still hate twins.

dunmovin farms

> My dad has had twins a couple of
> times on his place, and never from
> the same cow. Last year, Mama #114
> had a pair of twins, this year a
> fine heifer. Had never had twins
> before 2001, so I don't know that
> twinning cows keep throwing
> twins.... excuse me for butting
> in.
 

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