first set of twins this year

[Toughie]

From a seven year old shorthorn cow, born unassisted, bull and a heifer.  Bull calf weighed 108 lbs and heifer calf weighed 100 lbs.  That's a lot of calf to carry around.  The cow is big, probably 17-1800 lbs yesterday, not sure what she would be today.  What are your experiences with twins? These are both up and sucking and they and the cow are doing very well.  I usually hate twins, but so far, these two are changing my opinion.

 

[Okotoks]

(clapping)
Sounds like everything will be fine with this set, we have always had good luck if the delivery goes well. Good luck with them!

 

[Charo]

We are at 6 couples from 100 calving Charolais cows, 30 more to go, we'll see if we can beat our record of 9.

 

[cowsnsows]

It's kind of strange, but I'm 41 years old and grew up around cattle and have had my own for close to 20 years now and never had any twins until 2 years ago and now I've had 2 sets and my dad had a set as well! I can tell you that in my limited experience, there will always be a "dominant" calf that gets a majority of the milk as well as attention from the cow. If she is a strong milker, she can definitely raise both of them, but if you had access to a nurse cow for the "weaker" calf I'd vote for that. Both calves will grow out better and it will be way easier on the cow, especially as large as both of them are already. Just FYI in case you weren't aware, I'm pretty sure both calves would have a high probability of being "free-Martins" and not be able to reproduce since it is a heifer/bull set. That's what I've always been told anyway. The current set I have are the same situation, so I plan on feeding out the heifer an selling the steer at the sale barn.Hope this helps!

 

[Charo]

We have a 2 years old heifer from a mixed twin couple with a calf this year. I know it's rare but she was bigger then the male at calving and she cycle around one year old so we gave her a try. She was from a very good mother and develop very well. I remember another heifer safe in calf that we sold, but normally the female from a mixed twin couple is sterile.

 

[Okotoks]

Heifer calves born twin to a bull are fertile about 10% of the time. The bull twin is fertile.

 

[cowsnsows]

Good info Okotoks, I stand corrected. Thanks

 

[ALTSIMMY 79]

Sounds like your cow is plenty big enough and if she milks really well,  let her raise them ! Seems most people will say to pull one calf but why?  Not every cow can raise a pair , but a good cow sure can !

 

[firesweepranch]

Not true about a cow not being able to raise two. We have a simm cow that is raising a set of twins, doing an outstanding job (they are big and fat), and she is more than 60 days AI bred. As you can see, her condition looks great. Some cows can do it, let her try and just watch the calves to make sure they are not undernourished. This cow gets no supplementation, nor do her boys. She did get some DDGs the first few days until I knew she had enough milk for both boys.
Oh, and not true about the bull in a bull/heifer twin set. We had a set last year, and the bull was VERY fertile at his BSE before he was sold. The heifer was a free-martin and went to the market.

 

[Toughie]

Correct me if I am wrong, but it has been my experience that if the heifer calf from a set of mixed twins is considerably smaller that the bull, it is definitely not fertile.  Often you can tell this at birth as the heifer calf's vulva will be quite enlarged and the teats will be almost non-apparent.  However, if the heifer calf is a good size as I cosider this one to be, there is a chance that it will breed.  The bull calf will be fertile in almost all cases.  This cow has a lot of milk, but I will keep her close to home this summer in case the calves need some supplemental feed.

 

[jaimiediamond]

Correct me if I am wrong, but it has been my experience that if the heifer calf from a set of mixed twins is considerably smaller that the bull, it is definitely not fertile.  Often you can tell this at birth as the heifer calf's vulva will be quite enlarged and the teats will be almost non-apparent.  However, if the heifer calf is a good size as I cosider this one to be, there is a chance that it will breed.  The bull calf will be fertile in almost all cases.  This cow has a lot of milk, but I will keep her close to home this summer in case the calves need some supplemental feed.

Your heifer calf has a 5%-10% chance of not being a freemartin.  The best way to confirm if she has all the necessary organs is to palpate her in the fall before culling.