miracle-twin-yes!!!!!!

[uscangus]

my black angus cow delivered a twin last friday during night time. the cow was smart to leave the calves in the barn; whereas, the other four cows had their calves in the pastures. this cow was smart to keep the calves in the pen near to the manger, while the mother could eat as much hay to maintain her bcs throughout the day. i know that the twin will lower and drain her bcs if she does eat much. her bcs while pregnant was about 6 and her weight was about 1300. currently, i am feeding about 7 hays (50-75lbs- square bales per day

questions about the sex or the integrity of the bull. the twin is a black heifer and bull calves. he, my neighbor, indicated that the bull is sterile when you have heifer and bull calf. i have read a lot of articles and could not find any informations that would validate my neighbor's statement. can anyone validate his statement or any articles.

thank you for generous responses, uscangus.

 

[c farmer]

More than likly the heifer is no good but the bull will be good for breeding.

 

[alisonb]

Do a search on freemartin-lots of information on this topic.Congrats with the twins!

 

[shorty]

Keep a good eye on them , I've never had good luck with twins , the only time I had both make it is last year and the mother abandoned the one so I bottle fed him and he turned out fine , I had twin heiffers born in early december I penned them and their mother away from the other cows for about a month . they were doing great , then I put them back with the others and they were still doing great , last week before the big snow we had I found the one dead , I saw them both just the day before and they both seemed fine . Mom seemed to have enough milk for both plus they have creep feeder plus hay.

 

[xbred]

twins can be a mixed blessing..i have a cow that has had twins 4 out of 5 seasons..she raised them all and it was a good thing...about freemartins..if the calves are male and female, the heifer is usually sterile..but not always..from what i understand, if the calves are identical twins the heifer will be sterile, if the calves are paternal twins, the heifer and the bull will both be fertile...

 

[3waycross]

twins can be a mixed blessing..i have a cow that has had twins 4 out of 5 seasons..she raised them all and it was a good thing...about freemartins..if the calves are male and female, the heifer is usually sterile..but not always..from what i understand, if the calves are identical twins the heifer will be sterile, if the calves are paternal twins, the heifer and the bull will both be fertile...

Wanna rethink that last statement.

Identical twins are just that IDENTICAL in ALL ways including SEX. They are the result of an egg that splits.

Paternal twins are the result of 2 separate eggs that are fertilized by 2 separate sperm.

 

[dun]

Has nothing to do with what type of twins they are other then being mixed gender. All one gender twins are fertile. Of a bull and heifer twin the bull is fertile but the heifer 90% plus of the time is sterile. It has to do with the male hormones affecting the development of the heifers repro apparatus very early in the fetal stage of development.

 

[uscangus]

Has nothing to do with what type of twins they are other then being mixed gender. All one gender twins are fertile. Of a bull and heifer twin the bull is fertile but the heifer 90% plus of the time is sterile. It has to do with the male hormones affecting the development of the heifers repro apparatus very early in the fetal stage of development.

thanks you dun and all the generous advisors-i was sad but i am glad that i have the boards with your experiences to clear my questions. i am sadden because both calves have great conformation as the dam or sire. i wanted to keep the heifer as a future replacement.

but my obstacle is maintain the dam and both calves. with march coming near by, our temperature is getting warm to generate the spring grass. i have four calves already grazing and emulating their dam. like someone said from the board, cows and calves are herds and when mom graze the calves mimic. so far, the calves are receiving their milk and grazing and getting bigger.

anyway, thank you kindly for your generous and experienced advises. uscangus,

 

[wtrapp]

I had twin calves born December 29th. Both lived two days and then the mother abandoned one. Both were alive one day then the next the smaller one was dead. Twins are cute but not always the best thing.

 

[snickers]

we had twin bulls this weekend, we let one stay with mom and are bottle feeding the other one. We didn't think the bottle baby would make it because he was nothing but a mud ball. My oldest son found him laying in knee deep slop he evidently feel out of the door to our barn and could get out of the mud/poop and totally covered with it, we brought him in by the wood stove and dried him off and got some colostrum in him and so far he's doing great. We had another calf this morning and was glad it wasn't another twin situation. I would prefer to have singles verses twin's.

 

[uscangus]

I had twin calves born December 29th. Both lived two days and then the mother abandoned one. Both were alive one day then the next the smaller one was dead. Twins are cute but not always the best thing.

"wtrapp"-i am sorry to hear that. i will make sure and monitor the twin. having read the "double the pleasure"-boy-is not good to have twins if you can't bottle feed the two calves.

"dun"-i found that articles about freemartin. the heifer is sterile. she has great conformation for replacement in the future. since she is sterile, i have not search if they would administer testosterone to the heifer to increase muscle mass like the bull for meat or not.

thank you once again, the boards.

 

[dun]

There is a simple bloodtest that can be done that will tell you if it's a freemartin or not. If she's a really superb specimen than have her blood tested. You;ll be out 30-50 bucks depending on who does it but you'll know for sure. That prevents the "I wonder ifs" later on.
The unfortuntate thing about freemartins is that all that is affected is their repro, unles she's a real extreme case (vestual penis or the like) she won;t muscle anymore then any other heifer. We don;t do implants but there are implants for heifers that will put on more weight/growth but I don;t know about muscle mass.

 

[George Monk]

We had twins from one of our registered cows. I missed her in heat but our Hereford didn't. I saw him breed her and on a whim I turned in our Angus bull hoping that the angus might breed her and at least have a chance at purebred. Lo and behold she had twins one from each bull! Both are bulls and look great! We pulled the white face off and left the angus on her.

 

[hillsdown]

Make sure the twins have access to a good calf starter ration, get them on grain right away and that will take some of the strain off the dam. Last year we had twins out the wazoo. So far only singles this year and I pray that the little group that is still to calve keeps it that way. Calves are a double edged sword. If you still like the heifer calf at weening get the blood test Dun suggested.

Congrats and good luck with them.

 

[uscangus]

thank you very much for excellent responses; you guys are great for your kind answers. many thanks once again.,uscangus.

 

[msscamp]

he, my neighbor, indicated that the bull is sterile when you have heifer and bull calf. i have read a lot of articles and could not find any informations that would validate my neighbor's statement. can anyone validate his statement or any articles.

thank you for generous responses, uscangus.

Actually, your neighbor has that backwards - it's the heifer that is most likely sterile, not the bull. If the cow does not milk well enough to raise both of them, pull the bigger one/one that you are not as interested in and either bottle it, or give it/sell it to a local kid who will take care of it.

 

[xbred]

dun,
how early can the test be completed with accuracy...

 

[dun]

I think it's something like 2-3 weeks. That was through UC Davis, they were the only ones doing it 10 years ago when we had one tested. I think most all of the DNA genetic testing type companys now do it too.

 

[uscangus]

i thought that i had a bull and freemartin(heifer), but i found out after a week that i have a set of bull calf. they are smaller size than the other bull calf due to twin. so far, i had seven straight bull calves the last three weeks. i have eleven more bred cows to give me heifer calves. so far, the conformations are great.

boy, it is fun to raise cow and calves. so far, i have not had any breech or backward pregnancy. thank God. most of the bred cow are middle age. the cow with the twin has a large udder to support the twin calve bulls. i am hoping the twin will start grazing the pastures like the other five bull calves. the other older bull calves are grazing more, growing fast, and less relying on the mother cows.

coming from the big city, it is so pretty when the calves are hopping like small deer. it is so pretty to see the growth and maternal instinct. i noticed that other cows will crossed milk with other calves. also, other cows will watched the calves for other cows.

thank you for the boards for your experiences and advises. have a great day. uscangus.

 

[ga. prime]

Interesting use of English.