Mothering Twins ?

[Stocker Steve]

Got a pair of rwf heifers this weekend. Cow seemed to favor one, and the other one just laid out in the pasture by itself. Brought the unpopular one to the herd and she walked right up to her mother - - to get head butted a couple times and then kicked. The running age Hereford cow did not look like she had a lot of milk...

How common is it for a cow to reject one twin?

Any good options other than being a bottle calf?

 

[fitz]

Don't like twins. Have had some over the years that did fine with twins. More that didn't, especially heifers.
I just don't have the patience for working with rejects anymore. I'll get the calf going good on a bottle and sell it as such. Beef bottle babies move pretty quick here.

fitz

 

[tripleBfarms]

I raised a set last year, a they were both dinks. Cow had lots of milk. When they hit 300 lbs it wasnt enough for 2. When we sold them at just under 6 months they were around 375lbs each, and the cow was thin. Would have been better to have sold one at two weeks or so, started on a bottle, and let the cow raise the other one. Would have been easier on the cow and would have sold about the same pounds.

 

[Dave]

I have had twins that worked out but more that didn't. The best set I have had worked because I had a heifer who lost her calf on the same day. I just grafted one twin on to the heifer. Depending where you are in calving, just bottle feed until you need a calf as a graft calf should another cow lose a calf.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

It can be done, but it depends on the cow. We just weaned a set of twins, both high 500's (I think 590 and 580, but not at home so can not remember for sure). Just on grass and dam's milk. She AId back, and is due a week earlier than before. She only weighed 1230 or there about when we weaned them. They look fantastic, and so does she. She never rejected a calf, nor did she prefer one over the other.