twins

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papavillars

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Myfirst set of twins this week. i was able to pen one up with an old longhorn mom still in milk and it seems to have worked. both bulls are pretty small.
 
Did she get colostrum?
Twins can be profitable - but - I HATE TWINS. Too many things can go wrong. Tangled up needing assistance, parturition too early, retained placenta, cow is thinner at calving, harder to get her bred back, etc.
I have had a good share of twins (Simmental tend to have more twins than other breeds). I have to say, most have been good results, but if I never have another set, it would not break my heart. I have one old girl that has had 4 sets. Spit all out on her own, all but 1 was alive & well. She raised them all. She is 13 and is raising her 15th calf. Stays fat as a pig - even having back to back sets of twins that she raised.
 
We had a streak a while back of 7 years in a row with a set of twins in our 30-35 cow heard. All but one survived. It is draining on the momma though, but one cow had two of the sets and raised all hers with no problem.
 
I get a lot of twins. Standard procedure now it to pull one as soon as it's had it's colostrum and start it on the bottle. If it's not got a new momma in a few days it gets sold for cash. Very few cows will take a set of twins out onto the range and come back with both. Most cows will raise a set if they are kept on smaller tame pastures but that's not an option here if I want the cow to be exposed to a bull.
 
Yes, Silver - your program is totally different. Yes, my cows raise their calf on grass, no grain. But, they are moved every 3-5 days rotational grazing and I see them daily - AND, we don't have wolves & bears attacking them!!!!
I just wanted to make it clear that there is always that good momma cow that can handle twins - but, on average, they are a pain in the rear for multiple reasons.
 

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