The Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) ran a long study of twinning in beef cattle. They even went so far as to produce a line of bulls whose daughters were more likely to twin. Their semen was sold by ABS as MARC Twinners. But at the end of the study, they found beef cows who had twin calves had twice as much calving difficulty as single births, had a considerably slower breed back rate and didn't wean considerably more pounds of beef. And, of course, a heifer born to a bull twin will not be fertile, so that could be a loss if you are breeding purebred animals.
> I recently looked at a bull and
> even though he was a very pretty
> yearling, I was a little hesitant
> to purchase him due to the fact
> that he was a twin (the other calf
> was a heifer). I have been told
> that he will not sire more twins
> than normal but his heifers would.
> My question is, why are twins
> considered "not good"?
> Is it due to the birthing problems
> that may be encountered?
> Thanks
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