TWINS Is this possible?

[LauraleesFarm]

Red Angus Cow showed signs of being close to calving.

August 3: Found said cow with a slightly damp charolais bullcalf and fresh placenta string dragging the ground.

August 4: Checked cow and calf, doing well, placenta string still in tow, filthy from manure.

August 5: Cow and calf hiding in corner of pasture away from other cattle. Placenta string same as August 4. Cow is acting crampy, up and down, won't let calf nurse much.

August 6: Ranch hand found an extra bawling Charolais bullcalf. Only other due is a purebred black Brangus heifer bred to Hereford bull, but not until end of month. Placed lone calf with Red Angus Cow and first Charolais calf. She mothered it a bit and walked off with the pair of calves. Cow no longer has dirty placenta string and she has cleaned. It was way past dark at this point and the cow is antisocial and not easily penned.

This morning both calves nursing the cow. They are a slight shade different in color, and one is a tiny bit larger but mostly identical sized/shaped. Could she have calved these twins three days apart?

 

[Ky hills]

Sounds like it may have been possible. I have only had 5 sets of twins in cattle, all but one set were born one right after the other. One set, the cow had a 60 lbs. calf while I was feeding that morning, and then that afternoon had an 88 lb. calf that actually came out breech within minutes. With sheep and goats, most multiple births were very close, but occasionally a span of a few hours between first and last.

 

[Williamsv]

Last year I had a Black Angus cow have twins and two days later she had another one. All three did not make it. I was really shocked at this because I had never heard of it before. This year she had one fine bull calf. He is growing off really well. I do not like twins.

 

[pdfangus]

you have apparently documented it and now are asking us to verify it....?

hillary and trump are the major parties candidates for president....

any da__ed thing is possible.

 

[TCRanch]

I'd say anything is possible, based on the following thread. Congrats on the twins - and mama claiming both

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=102277

 

[LRTX1]

I had a set of twins a while back that didn't see each other for a few days, mama kept them bedded down in different areas. It might be they were born closer together time wise and she had one hidden better than the other.

 

[cowgirl8]

We have around 4 sets of twins a year. Cows never pass afterbirth with twins, one of my cues to look for a second calf. Sometimes i find them, sometimes i dont. Preemie births also cause retained afterbirths...
The cord, if you examined it on the second calf, would have been fresh if she had just had it. If it was in a dry state and matched the other calf's, then she probably just had it in a different place. I've always found that the cow usually keeps one calf with her, either the calf's choice or natures. If the second calf is not energetic it usually just lays there and dies waiting for the cow. Sometimes the cow takes care of both, sometimes the hidden calf is forgotten. So when i find a cow with a calf and she has not lost her afterbirth, i look for a second calf and either take the calf for grafting onto another cow, or if she appears to be willing to keep up with both, i leave it... I'm going to guess she had it hidden, or was just not planning on taking care of it. I'm really surprised though she took it. This probably means she did nurse it at one point or was feeding it all along...
other cues that a calf is a twin, smaller noses, crooked legs, smaller than normal and skinny sometimes.. Although sometimes a cow will pop out 2 whoppers...

 

[pdfangus]

had a cow once that had two calves both of which were over 80 lbs....saw em born so knew they were twins....she took em both and raised em both ....was years ago so I do not recall weaning....or gender...I think they were both bull calves which became steers but she raised a lot of total lbs that year...

 

[Nesikep]

I had a monstrous cow with 2 110 lb bull calves.. first came out fine, second was dead in utero. Usually theyr'e one after the other, but I've heard of them being even further apart (a month?) which I find really surprising.

At least she wants both of them

 

[riquezada]

I say quite possible. I have big white CharX cow (Angus-Char unknown percentage of which) that had twins 2 years in a row. 2 bulls first time and 2 heifers second time. Each time one was pure black and one almost pure white. She hid them all in separate spots. I didn't even know both times about a day or so later when she nursed one, bawled and then walked over to the other one. They all weaned just as big as the other calves those years.

 

[nathan arizona]

We had twins this year. I didn't discover the second one until a week later, but I'm pretty sure that the momma just had one hidden better than the other. She's done well with both and seems to be keeping her condition pretty well.