A triple treat has been born at Bruthen, in Victoria, at the dairy farm of Peter Jennings and Sue Croton.
An autumn-calving British Friesian cow in her fifth calving year gave birth to triplets — a bull calf and two heifer calves — on June 6.
Researchers estimate only 0.01 per cent of calvings in dairy cows results in triplets.
It’s the first lot of surviving triplets born on the farm, according to family member Adam Hasler.
“Peter said to me after milking, ‘I think she’ll calve tonight, just check her later’,” Adam said.
When he did, the cow was cleaning the calf. Then Adam realised there was a second calf on the ground, and then his torch beam lit up a third.
They were all alive and alert.
“It looked like she’d dropped each one as she was cleaning up the previous calf,” he said.
The heifers have been named Tic and Tac, and the steer is Hoof.
Cows on this Bruthen farm are joined with natural mating, and this cow was caught by the bull towards the end of the joining period.
“We were close to the end of calving,” Adam said.
“The first night they were born, Peter and I fed the bull and a heifer, just to help the cow a bit. The second night we fed one of the heifers.
“Since then, we’re confident the cow has been feeding all three calves.”
Heifers born out of twins on the Bruthen farm in the past have been viable milkers, so the female calves have a future in the herd.
“The heifers — Tic and Tac — will go into the milking herd,” Adam said.
“Hoof will grow up a bit before we decide what to do with him.”
The three calves have inherited the same forehead to nose blaze as their mother.
There is little enough research to quantify the odds of a cow birthing triplets, but Holsteins have a higher rate of multiple births than other breeds, at about four per cent.
One of the most famous Friesian-Holstein cows in the dairy industry, in 1904, calved triplets. She was Eldred Clothilde’s Josephine 2nd, belonging to the De Kol strain, from which most Holsteins in the United States are derived.
The cow was 10 years old when she calved-down the triplets. The sire was Sir Johanna Aaggie Fayne 10th.
In 2018, researchers estimated the occurrence of twin calving in Holstein Friesian cattle is three to five per cent (2018, Twin calving and its connection to other economically important traits in dairy cattle, Andras Gaspardy, James Sheridan, Melinda Ari and Laszlo Gulyas).
They reported that, in general, twin pregnancies occur in about 10 per cent of dairy cattle, but only 0.01 per cent were triplet pregnancies; and that cows with higher lactation performance and better fertility tend to be more disposed to multiple pregnancies.
The incidences of multiple ovulations were more frequently observed in Holstein Friesian cows.
More twin and multiple births occur in summer, spring and autumn than in winter.
The quality of feed and cows with high milk yield are two environmental indicators that contribute to a three-fold higher frequency of multiple ovulation in dairy cows.
High milk production near the time of ovulation can also increase the incidence of double ovulation.
Peter Jennings confirmed the dam of the triplets had only single births prior to calving the triplets.
Some research has been undertaken through the USDA Meat Animal Research Centre in Nebraska, indicating multiple births is a heritable trait from both the bull and cow, with the likelihood of heritability being less than six per cent.
The rate of multiple births increased with the age of the cow, and it was more likely to occur in autumn-calving cows.
Multiple births in cattle are fraternal, meaning the cow ovulated multiple eggs that became fertilised.
When a cow does give birth to multiple calves, it is rare for them all to survive; and if all survive, the cow doesn’t always accept and take care of all three as her own.
A couple of years ago, in Ireland, two cows on two separate farms birthed triplets. One was a Fleckvieh cow and the other a Holstein cow, and both were joined using Fleckvieh semen.
The triplets were raised by people.
What is unique about the Jennings farm, is the triplet calves are still being fed exclusively by their dam.
“We’ve had a few sets of twins survive over the years, and we always leave them with their mother, too,” Adam said.
In July, the calves started sharing a bit of hay and grain from their mother’s portion.
Family members and workers on the farm compete with each other to take the best photos of the triplets.
“We all find plenty of reasons to drop by the paddock to check on them,” Adam said.
This year on a West Kerry (Ireland) farm, a nine-year-old Holstein Friesian cow gave birth to triplet calves — two bulls and a heifer — and looked after them herself.
This cow has previously birthed three single calves, four sets of twins and now a set of triplets.
The 2023-drop calves are the result of semen from artificial insemination, taken from a Holstein Friesian bull.
In 2017, in South Glamorgan in the UK, a Holstein Friesian cow gave birth to two bulls and a heifer calf on her third calving. But she required assistance to calve.