Butterbean_Farms
Well-known member
If you have bull and heifer twins, the heifer will usually be sterile. What about the bull? Will he be sterile also, or safe to raise as a bull?
Free martin
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mwj
Well-known member
No effect to the bull.
Ditto. You can always have your vet do a thorough exam to make sure he passes his BSE, but I wouldn't keep one. Or use one. And I definitely wouldn't buy one.
farmerjan
Well-known member
We have used a couple bulls over the years that were twins... no difference in effective pregnancies... we did get several sets of twins out of a bull that was a twin.... a couple did look like IDENTICAL twins. But that would have been the female having an egg that split...
I had a heifer that had twin heifers....3 days apart... the 1st one was dead, the 2nd one was alive... and they had identical tiny white spots on their forehead.... I had started a calf on the heifer after the dead calf (she was penned in when she looked close) and she was okay with it for the first day, then refused it the next day, and had the 2nd calf the next day after that. Still have the live one, called Lucky... working on her 3rd, maybe 4th, calf I think....
I had a heifer that had twin heifers....3 days apart... the 1st one was dead, the 2nd one was alive... and they had identical tiny white spots on their forehead.... I had started a calf on the heifer after the dead calf (she was penned in when she looked close) and she was okay with it for the first day, then refused it the next day, and had the 2nd calf the next day after that. Still have the live one, called Lucky... working on her 3rd, maybe 4th, calf I think....
Lee VanRoss
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That is not a road you want to go down if you plan on staying in the cattle business.
Lucky_P
Well-known member
Not that I'd wanna go there, but the USMeatAnimalResearchCenter, at Clay Center, Nebraska developed a line of 'twinner' cattle - a composite 'breed' ( I know there were Simmental, Pinzgauer, Angus, and several other breeds in the mix)... ABS even offered a couple of the Twinner bulls, back in the 1980s. Daughters of these bulls had a much higher incidence of twinning, compared to the general cattle population... we're talking a 60% twinning rate in the 'Twinner' herd, compared to ~ 2% in the general population. Several years back, USMARC was still selling some of their Twinner bulls, cows, and semen in their yearly auction.
Google search brought up this: https://www.twinnercattle.com/
While there is the possibility of XX(female) germ cells being present in testicles of bull calves born twin to a freemartin, studies have show no evidence of decreased fertility in these bulls, and no increased percentage of female offspring.
Testosterone produced by the male twin's testicles overrides development of the female twin's ovaries and reproductive tract... so, there is little to no estrogen produced that might hinder testicular development in utero.
Google search brought up this: https://www.twinnercattle.com/
While there is the possibility of XX(female) germ cells being present in testicles of bull calves born twin to a freemartin, studies have show no evidence of decreased fertility in these bulls, and no increased percentage of female offspring.
Testosterone produced by the male twin's testicles overrides development of the female twin's ovaries and reproductive tract... so, there is little to no estrogen produced that might hinder testicular development in utero.
There is a "chance' that the heifer is normal. I think maybe 8% chance?? Generally, you can tell right away just looking at the vulva/clitoris. Generally, more hairy and bigger and may pee an abnormal stream.
