Twin Issues

[Farminlund]

Since 11/21/03 we have had 46 cows calve (~14 mos). Of that, 8 had twins or ~17%; just the other day I had to pull a set of twins as they were both trying to get out at the same time – unfortunately, I was too late & both were dead. Of the remaining 7 pairs delivered naturally, 2 delivered dead twins, 2 successful with acceptance of both, while 3 moms accepted only 1, & of those 3, I managed to save 2 either by "forcing" the mother to accept or thru adoption by another mother. This current situation is not very desirable; both from labor perspective & cost, as twins do not grow as well as singles. What can I so to stop what to me is a high incidence of twins? Cattle are angus, service is both by bull & AI.

 

[Jake]

twins don't grow as good??? since when? if that's the case then your cows must not be supplying enough milk for both, sell the smaller calf at the barn and let her raise one...

 

[Scotty]

This would be a good time to creep feed hard. I have had a large number of twins when I used a beefmaster bull. Got rid of him and had not had any since. My vet said their could be a small chance the bull was the cause. Likely in my case. But an Angus cow should be able to handle this task. I have never had much problem of(the year I ahd them) of them growing worse that made much of a difference.


Scotty

 

[Farminlund]

Thanks for the input - that would work fine, but only 2 of the 8 accepted both, so the labor/hassle issue is my main concern

 

[Scotty]

I saw an orphan sale last week for 190 dollars.

Scotty

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Farminlund - I know what you are saying. I HATE TWINS!! More often than not, they get tangled up & kill each other by breaking the umbilical cord. More dystocia which takes up a lot of labor time. Also, it causes high incidence of retained placentas, which causes slow return to estrus. Also, feeding two calves slows her return to estrus. The list goes on---

Yeah, lots of you will tell of the wonderful experience of having twins. Well, I've had enough of good & bads & I would definately abort one if I had the oportunity. Have I said - I HATE TWINS!! :shock:

Twinning is heritable. You might check your cow lines. Also, I know a "rich" farm that feeds grain to their cattle & creep feed the calves 24/7 and they have a much higher incidence of twinning. It can definately be connected to high plane of nutrition at conception time. Always a tight rope between enough nutrition to get them to breed back & too much.

 

[dun]

Several years ago this area was plagued with high numbers of twins. This from herds with no incidence in the past or since of twinning. Although feed, i.e. flushing my cause a cow to drop two ova, or genetics may cause it, when I discussed it with the vet his response was, "some years you just seem to get more twins". I lay it to just da-- bad luck.

dun

 

[rambler]

Yes there is a genetic component but I think the most common culprit is the state of the pastures or feeding program just before breeding. It is not just heredity. We have had about the normal 5% twining rate but this has not been very regular. Same cow herd genetics, some years several pairs, most years no pairs. I also hate twins, but have concluded that it is the rare cow that will both accept the twins and feed them well enough to grow out right. I usually pull the weakest one either at birth or shortly thereafter and bucket feed it. They are not very profitable if your time is worth anything but they usually go on and do fairly well after weaning. Never keep a heifer out of a cow that twins and the genetics work for you!!!

 

[samm]

we had our first set of twins back in november, the mother had a quarter that was kinda bad....we thought....but we milked it down and she has produced milk in it since, the boys have done well...we started supplementing them just to kinda help out. we turned them out yesterday into the big pasture with the rest, mostly so she can get bred here shortly. but the boys are growing pretty good, they are a dab shorter than a couple of the other calves, but other than that they are ok.....im glad that she was an older cow, and could have them cuz we were out of town up in missouri at the time...i guess we got lucky...

 

[dun]

We had a heifer that twinned a couple of years ago. We suplemented the bull calf for a week or so, by then he was n't interested anymore. The pair weaned at a combined weight of 848 lbs. When we tried to run her in to breed she went totally nuts. When we weaned and tried putting her in the trailer she did some interesting things to my body. She was sure good eating.

dun

 

[TheBullLady]

We had one year several years ago when we had four sets of twins.. and out of cows (older ) that had never had twins before.

I've rarely lost a set of twins, and as long as the cow has enough milk to feed them both, I've never had a cow that hasn't excepted them both. My first set of twins an old Hereford cow had years ago were born 12 hours apart, and she still took them both. I guess a lot depends on the cow. A heifer would probably be harder to convince to take them both!

I had one set of twins this year, and I'm raising the heifer.. but only because I didn't feel like feeding the cow, and that's the only way she'd be able to raise them both. It's a WHALE of a heifer.. she's a good 'un.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I'm raising the heifer..

Sounds like you had a heifer & a bull?? I don't know the extent of your knowledge, but do you know the heifer twin to a bull is probably a freemartin, meaning she will not breed? But, will make a great feeder. There are a percentage that can be normal - but fairly rare.

You are really lucky that you haven't lost any twin calves. I've definately lost more than we saved. They end up getting tangled together or the cow calves way too early. In any case, makes it hard to breed the cow back when you have a 45-60 day calving season.

 

[shorty]

I have a set of twin heifers which are soon due with thier 2nd calves ( the first calves were singles) will a heifer that was a twin herself have more of a chance of having twins. who has more influence in determining twins , the heifer or the bull, I rather wouldn't have twins because other than this set of heifers, we usually end up losing one anyway and twice now it's been the bigger of the two that we lost

 

[dun]

The bull might have some affect, but it's more the bulls daughters then the bulls calves that would be likely to twin. Twin heifers are likely to twin, but, (I know, the ever famous but) but, there is a herd some where in iowa (I think), that has been selecting for multipel generations for twinning. The last report I read which was several years ago, they were only averagin something like 37% twins each year.

dun

 

[TheBullLady]

Yes Jeanne.. I'm aware of the possibility of the heifer being a freemartin. I'll have her tested to make sure.