baconseedsower t1_j6l3aqh wrote
I still have the male twin from a pair I bottle raised. They were born full size and the cow had them unassisted. The farmer found her later trying to figure out which was hers. Ultimately he took them both and gave them to me to raise. The heifer was a freemartin and a jerk. She went to auction at about butcher age. Her brother had been hypoxic at birth, we think he was the second one and took too long to come out. It caused brain damage that made him dumb and lovable, so we trained him as a work animal, but mostly he's an oversized pet.
vyrelis t1_j6lpblb wrote
The mom couldn't process that she had twins?
1955photo t1_j6lsl26 wrote
Cows quite often are confused about that. And sometimes they will just reject a calf for no apparent reason. We are not talking about rocket scientists here. :D
_destiel t1_j6lumz3 wrote
lolcow
baconseedsower t1_j6lvi0j wrote
It isn't uncommon. They are hardwired for the concept of one baby, so when nature gives them two, they don't always understand. Also, they're cows. Not very bright.
QAoA t1_j6m1kn9 wrote
Do cows not usually have twins? With goats it's quite common to have 2 or 3 kids.
baconseedsower t1_j6m248c wrote
No, cows generally have one and many don't survive having twins. I don't remember the exact amount but less than 5% of births are twins, and usually they are undersized due to lack of space. The fact this girl managed to have full size twins unassisted with both babies and momma surviving is shocking.
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