BYC Café

[LaFleche]

@DobieLover Oh no! Cute litte Skittles! Hopefully they will find out what exactly it is. Crossing my fingers that he will soon get better.

"He hasn't had any of his medications since yesterday afternoon."

But they could easily add it to his drip I suppose?

 

[Meg-in-MT]

@Meg-in-MT how common are twins, and does it seem to be a hereditary trait?

Not common for us. I "think" the heredity of twins comes more from the bulls side and not the cow. We had one set last year, one this year (so far), but went many years without any.

A year or two ago we had a friend that had 6-8 sets of them.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Yes, I do! Best treated with more pictures

Congratulations! How many more do you expect?

Today? Hard telling. Lots of helicopter tails, but that's not a clear sign they'll calve.

 

[LaFleche]

Today? Hard telling. Lots of helicopter tails, but that's not a clear sign they'll calve.

That's probably the most exciting time of year for you?

 

[Meg-in-MT]

The problem with twins is that while they are fun to see, that's about the end of the fun. One usually does just fine and the other is smaller/weaker/less aggressive and needs human intervention to get it to eat. The cow was in the head catch for about an hour so the second calf could get a chance to suck. He didn't get it done on his own.

An interesting thing is that the heifer of the pair (of a bull and heifer) is usually a freemartin (infertile), so you wouldn't keep her anyway.

Most people sell their twins for bottle calves or replacements to graft onto a cow that lost her calf.

 

[LaFleche]

An interesting thing is that the heifer of the pair (of a bull and heifer) is usually a freemartin (infertile), so you wouldn't keep her anyway.

How can this happen more often than just a coincidence? Is there scientific research going on to determine the cause?

 

[sourland]

How can this happen more often than just a coincidence? Is there scientific research going on to determine the cause?

I believe I read somewhere that it is caused by the Testosterone of the developing bull calf. Not 100 % on this.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Good question, and one I never looked into.

"Phenotypically, the animal appears female, but various aspects of female reproductive development are altered due to the acquisition of anti-müllerian hormone from the male twin."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemartin


Of course wikipedia isn't always completely reliable, but this was an interesting read.

 

[aart]

Driveway cleared with no trouble, everything worked pretty much flawlessly...
...except my brain right at the end.
Took one last swipe too close to the ditch got tractor stuck bad.
Was saved by a gracious strong man who stopped and lifted the back of the tractor out of the holes (good thing I had taken the counter weights off in anticipation of a friend coming over with a tow chain) then pushed me the rest of the way out.
Blessed, exhausted, and feeling pretty stupid.

 

[sourland]

Driveway cleared with no trouble, everything worked pretty much flawlessly...
...except my brain right at the end.
Took one last swipe too close to the ditch got tractor stuck bad.
Was saved by a gracious strong man who stopped and lifted the back of the tractor out of the holes (good thing I had taken the counter weights off in anticipation of a friend coming over with a tow chain) then pushed me the rest of the way out.
Blessed, exhausted, and feeling pretty stupid.

I file such incidents under the category " 'S' happens."