Cows typically have one calf and twins are rare. Anything more is almost unheard of.
That’s why one southern Alberta farm family received quite the surprise during a routine calving check last week.
Darren and Kelsey Vandervalk, along with their three kids were on the way into nearby Claresholm to watch some fireworks, but it turns out all the excitement was right there at home.
“There was a calf laying in the field and the mom had one foot coming out of her, so we decided to pull the twin before we headed to town,” said Kelsy.
“And then when we were pulling it, I just made a joke that I should check for one more, and there was another one!”
Two bull calves and one heifer make up the trio. The adorable siblings are cross-bred with an Angus mom and a Charolais dad.
All the calves are doing well, but the little heifer did need some IV fluids after her temperature dropped shortly after birth.
The proud mom is doing great, but she does need some help wrangling and feeding her new herd.
Kelsey is not only a cattle producer — she is also a mixed animal veterinarian and in her 10 years of practicing, she has never dealt with triplets. She says the chances of seeing triplets in beef cattle is rare, and it’s even more unusual for them all to survive.
“I think the odds are 105-thousand-to-1 and I penciled it out and I’d have to calve for 466 more years for it to maybe happen again,” added Darren.
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The Vandervalk farm has some good luck. If you can believe it, triplets were born on the farm before.
“The owners of this place previous to us, his mom had in her diary that in 1959 they had a Hereford cow that had triplets here and they all survived,” said Kelsey.
The birth order of the calves just so happens to line up the same as their kids, so the calves’ names were an easy choice.
“There names match the middle names of the kids, so John, James and Lynn,” said Darren.
All together, the threesome weighs in at a little more than 200 lbs. The smallest is the heifer at roughly 55 lbs, and the oldest brother is the biggest at roughly 75lbs.
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