Triplets surprise ranchers

La Noria Angus northwest of Wellington made a bit of history on Aug. 8 when a registered Angus cow gave birth to triplets.

According to Dr. Julie Severidt, a veterinarian at Colorado State University, the statistical chances of triplet calves are one in 105,000. "It's fairly rare to have triplets and survive birth," she said. "Even if there are twins, often one will not do well."

In this case, the chances increased because neighbor Jon Slutsky of La Luna Dairy quickly brought over a supply of colostrum that is high in protein and antibodies. One or two calves can get enough colostrum from their own mother, but not three. The colostrum helps the calves develop their immune systems within the first few hours of birth.

The mother cow, Northern Miss, is 3 1/2 years old and had one calf previously to the triplets.

Cattle owners Arturo and Peggy Arévalos continued to bottle-feed one of the calves to keep it alive. From all appearances, it was doing just as well as the other two as it romped around a pasture.