It was a case of lightning strikes twice in Co. Mayo last night (Monday, November 13) as another farmer in the county was surprised by the arrival of triplet calves.
Joe Kennedy, a farmer based in Swinford with a herd of pedigree Simmental and Limousin cross cows, told Agriland that the calves have caused great excitement in his family.
The news follows the birth of triplet calves on Halloween night (Tuesday, October 31) to a Simmental cow owned by Micheal Hoban from Errew, Co. Mayo.
Hoban had assumed his cow was having twins, but was shocked when she gave birth to triplet heifer calves.
Triplet calves
Joe Kennedy bought the mother of his triplets, Forestlord Millie, a three-year-old pedigree Simmental cow from Peter O’Regan in Tralee, Co. Kerry during the summer.
Millie, who is a half twin herself, is by Curaheen Earp, out of a Cairnview Snazzy cow.
The cow, purchased with a calf at foot, was in-calf to Clonagh Frosty King and was expected to have twins.
“She was very heavy. I was watching her there getting closer and closer. I put her out into a pen last night on her own as I’d said she might calve tonight,” Kennedy said.
When he checked his calving camera on his phone at 9:00p.m, Kennedy saw that Millie had given birth to a calf.
“I jumped up straight away, got the can of beestings I was thawing out and went down with it.
“She had one out, so I got her into the head gate straight away checking for the second one,” he said.
“I put in my hand and his leg was down, that’s why he wasn’t popping out. So I managed to shove him back and get the leg up, grabbed him and pulled him out. I just put the two calves in front of the cow,” he added.
Kennedy said that Michael Hoban’s story recently highlighted on Agriland where he put his hand back in to check for a third calf while his cow was calving stuck in his head.
“I just went up to the cow and put my hand in and lo and behold, wasn’t there another calf,” he said.
Kennedy said that the triplets, two heifers and a bull, are currently doing well.
“I got them all fed last night and I went down this morning at 7:00a.m, and gave them another feed of beestings, so they are all okay this morning.”
Millie, who is a second calver, was said to be a “good mother” and is “happy enough” following the birth.
“She won’t be able to rear the three of them but I’ll leave them for a while, try to get them strong and see what I will do,” Kennedy said.
The farmer said the arrival of the triplet calves has caused quite a stir among his family, adding that it will be his daughter, Clara, who will choose their names.
“I often had two sets of twins, but never had triplets before, never. I’d say I’m the first one in my village, in Swinford, I never heard it before,” he said.
However, there won’t be much rest for Kennedy as he has around 17 more cows to calve over the coming months. This was his fifth cow to calve in recent weeks.
One of those cows, Millie’s twin, which the farmer also bought during his trip to Kerry in the summer, had a bull calf three weeks ago.